After spending 340 consecutive days on the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is scheduled to mark the beginning of the end of his Year In Space mission as he leaves the orbiting laboratory Tuesday and begins his journey back to good ol’ Planet Earth.
On Monday afternoon, Kelly will hand over space station command to Tim Kopra in a Change of Command Ceremony, NASA said, and at 4:15 on Tuesday, he will bid farewell to the station. He is scheduled to undock shortly after 8pm Eastern time, and will officially come back to Earth on Wednesday. Live coverage of his return to Houston is schedule to begin at 11:45pm.
Kelly, who traveled to the ISS as part of the Expedition 26 crew in March 2015, set a new record for the most time spent in space by an American during his time on the station, breaking the previous mark of 215 consecutive days set by NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría in 2006-07.
When combined with Kelly’s three previous missions, he will have spent a total of 540 days in orbit upon his return (barring delays, of course). Over the course of the past year, he could have witnessed up to 10,000 sunrises and sunsets from space, as the ISS traveled around the Earth at speeds of up to 17,000 miles per hour, according to the New York Times.
Sadly, it could be years before the findings are published
Of course, the Year In Space mission is about much more than breaking records. During the course of his 340-day stint on the space station, Kelly traveled close to 144 million miles, or approximately the distance an astronaut would have to travel to reach Mars.
NASA monitored his health the entire time alongside his twin brother Mark, who remained on Earth so that their vital statistics and other important biological data could be compared and contrasted to see what impact such an extended period in space has on the human body. That included collecting samples of their blood, urine, and feces, Wired noted.
“One of the biggest hurdles of getting to Mars is ensuring humans are ‘go’ for a long-duration mission and that crew members will maintain their health and full capabilities for the duration of a Mars mission and after their return to Earth,” explained NASA.
Before the year-long mission, scientists had been able to observe and collect information on how the body responded to a six-month stay in low gravity, but this marks the first time that were able to do so for a longer period of time. Their findings have and will continue to provide new insight into how a person’s vision, bone structure and muscle tone would be affected during a mission to Mars.
While doctors plan to give Kelly a check-up upon his arrival and will discuss the Year in Space mission during a Friday news conference, the US space agency warned that it will be at least six months and possibly more than five years before any results from the research ends up published in scientific journals – especially since some of the urine and stool samples will remain onboard the ISS until they can be brought back to Earth on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
—–
Image credit: Scott Kelly/NASA
Comments