Tag: Scott Kelly

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‘Twins Study’ raises questions about space stints

Mark and Scott Kelly
The genetic and health profiles of Mark Kelly and Scott Kelly were compared during a “Twins Study” focusing on the effects of long-term spaceflight. (NASA Photo / Robert Markowitz)

Ten research teams today shared comprehensive scientific results from an unprecedented experiment to gauge the health differences that developed between an astronaut who spent nearly a year in space and his identical twin down on Earth.

The study, published in the journal Science, traces the results of DNA tests and analyses of biological samples from Scott Kelly, who took on the 340-day mission on the International Space Station in 2015-2016; and from his brother Mark Kelly, a former astronaut who underwent parallel tests on Earth.

Many of the findings have been previously reported, but today’s open-access research paper and supporting materials provided broader context for the NASA Twins Study — and pointed to concerns that are likely to be addressed in future space experiments.

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NASA follows up on twin-astronaut tests

Scott Kelly
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly gives himself a flu shot in 2015 during his nearly yearlong stay on the International Space Station. (NASA Photo)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Almost three years after NASA astronaut Scott Kelly returned from spending nearly a year in orbit, researchers are still poring over the data collected during an unprecedented study comparing his health with that of his earthbound twin brother.

They say the comparison hasn’t raised any red flags about long-term spaceflight on the International Space Station. “On the whole, it’s encouraging,” Craig Kundrot, director of NASA’s Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Division, said here today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

But the studies have raised questions about the potential impact of exposure to weightlessness and space radiation during longer missions to the moon and Mars.

“It’s mostly green flags, and maybe a handful of things that are roughly like yellow flags, things just to keep an eye on,” said Christopher Mason, a researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine who serves as the principal investigator for the Twins Study.

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Unscrambling the tale of an astronaut’s genes

Mark and Scott Kelly
Retired astronauts Mark Kelly and Scott Kelly are still identical twins. (NASA Photo / Robert Markowitz)

My Twitter feed was buzzing this week with reports that Scott Kelly’s genes were knocked permanently out of phase because he spent a year in space.

Some of the reports made it sound as if Scott Kelly was no longer the identical twin of retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who participated in the genetic study down on Earth.

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Get a double dose of ‘Year in Space’ lore

Scott Kelly
Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly recounts his “Year in Space” mission during an event at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in May 2016. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls)

Space fans are used to seeing double when they’re keeping track of twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly, but this week Seattleites can get a double helping of pure Scott.

Tonight, the U.S. record-holder for continuous time in orbit is the star of “Beyond a Year in Space,” a PBS documentary done in cooperation with Time magazine.

The hourlong TV show is a follow-up on an earlier program that aired just after the end of Scott Kelly’s 340-day stint on the International Space Station in March 2016. Part 2 delves into Kelly’s return in depth, including his painful readjustment to Earth’s gravitational pull. At first, even the weight of his clothes gave his skin a burning sensation.

“Gravity definitely gives you a beat-down when you get back,” he says on the show.

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SpaceX Dragon returns year-in-space samples

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SpaceX’s Dragon capsule descends toward the Pacific at the end of its parachutes. (Credit: SpaceX)

A month after delivering an expandable prototype habitat and other goodies to the International Space Station, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean today  with tons of equipment and scientific samples.

Among the roughly 3,700 pounds of cargo are freezers containing blood, saliva, urine and stool samples from astronaut Scott Kelly, who served as an experimental subject during a nearly yearlong stint on the station. Those samples will be studied to see how long-term spaceflight affected Kelly’s metabolic functions, including the function of the gut bacteria in his bowels.

The results could affect how NASA plans for even longer journeys to Mars and other deep-space destinations.

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Scott Kelly says he suffered stress in space

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Scott Kelly peers out one of the International Space Station’s windows. (Credit: NASA)

During his year in space, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly said he could do another year if he had to. But now that Kelly has returned to Earth and retired from NASA, he says the experience took an emotional and physical toll.

The down side of long-term stints on the International Space Station came up today when Alfred A. Knopf announced it would be publishing Kelly’s memoir, titled “Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars.”

The announcement included a telling quote from the 52-year-old spaceflier:

“During my time in orbit, I lost bone mass, my muscles atrophied, and my blood redistributed itself in my body, which strained my heart. Every day, I was exposed to 10 times the radiation of a person on Earth, which will increase my risk of a fatal cancer for the rest of my life. Not to mention the psychological stress, which is harder to quantify and perhaps as damaging.”

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After a year in space, Scott Kelly is retiring

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NASA astronaut Scott Kelly takes a selfie from the International Space Station during his year in orbit. (Credit: Scott Kelly / NASA)

Godspeed, Scott Kelly.

Ten days after finishing up nearly a year in space, the veteran of four spaceflights announced today that he would retire from NASA on April 1. But he also promised to stay involved in the space effort, even after adding 143.8 million miles to his orbital odometer.

“Our universe is a big place, and we have many millions of miles yet to explore,” he said in a Facebook posting. “My departure from NASA is my next step on that journey. I remain ever committed and dedicated to the service of human exploration and advancement whether in space or on Earth.”

With 540 days in space under his belt, Kelly is almost certain to have surpassed NASA’s lifetime limits for radiation exposure. Scientists acknowledged even before the 52-year-old’s return to Earth on March 1 that his chances of taking on another spaceflight for NASA were virtually nil. But Kelly hasn’t ruled out the idea of flying into space for a commercial venture like SpaceX or Boeing.

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