posted 10-05-2012 03:32 PM               

First yearlong mission to space station set for US and Russian crew

An American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut will spend a year together in space to advance the day when humans venture out into the solar system.

NASA, together with its international partners, announced on Friday that the standard six-month stays on board the International Space Station (ISS) will be extended to one year for two crew members beginning in spring 2015. The longer duration mission is aimed at gathering the scientific data needed to send humans to destinations father away from Earth, such as Mars.

"In order for us to eventually move beyond low Earth orbit, we need to better understand how humans adapt to long- term spaceflight," Michael Suffredini, International Space Station program manager, said in a statement. "The space station serves as a vital scientific resource for teaching us those lessons, and this yearlong expedition aboard the complex will help us move closer to those journeys."

posted 11-26-2012 06:42 AM               

Astronaut Kelly and cosmonaut Kornienko to spend year on space station

Two veteran space station crew members, one from the United States and the other from Russia, will spend a year orbiting the Earth to improve our understanding about how to send astronauts out into the solar system.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will launch together on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the spring of 2015 and will land in Kazakhstan in spring 2016. The mission is the first yearlong expedition on the International Space Station (ISS), which usually rotates its crew members every six months.

The goal of the yearlong mission is to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to being exposed to the harsh environment of space.

posted 02-06-2013 07:35 PM               

He has established an official Facebook page for his preparation and mission.

This is my official Facebook page to follow along with me on this journey to the International Space Station (again).

I am honored to have been selected for another spaceflight and doubly honored to be selected for the yearlong expedition. I am looking forward to launching in March 2015 and spending a full year in orbit, to help scientists learn more about the long-term physical and psychological impacts of extended, confined flights in the weightless environment of space. My last spaceflight was a long-duration space mission. This mission will be the longer-duration space mission.

2015 seems far away, yet there is a lot of work to do to prepare for this mission. I plan to share my experiences from training on the ground and leaving the planet to flying out of this world and returning a year later.

posted 03-07-2014 04:47 PM               

NASA Selects 10 Proposals for Unprecedented Twin Astronaut Study

Only one set of twins has ever been into space, and now those twins are providing an unprecedented opportunity for scientists to understand better the effects of microgravity on the human body.

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) will fund 10 short-term, first-of-its-kind investigations into the molecular, physiological and psychological effects of spaceflight in a continuous effort to reduce the health impacts of human space exploration. The National Space Biomedical Research Institute is partnering with HRP to provide genetic counseling and assisting in the management of the research.

This unique opportunity is made possible by NASA's decision to fly veteran astronaut Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station for one year, beginning March 2015, while his identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, remains on Earth.

This study will focus in part on the comparison of blood samples collected from Scott and Mark at regular intervals before, during and after the one-year mission. Physiological and psychological testing also will be conducted on the brothers before, during and after the mission.

Scientific and technical experts from academia and government reviewed 40 proposals submitted in response to the research announcement "Human Exploration Research Opportunities - Differential Effects on Homozygous Twin Astronauts Associated with Differences in Exposure to Spaceflight Factors." The 10 selected proposals, which are from 10 institutions in seven states, will receive a combined $1.5 million during a three-year period.

HRP regularly assesses crew health and performance during spaceflight to evaluate associated risks. From these assessments, HRP develops strategies to monitor and mitigate these risks. These studies often have the considerable added benefit of advancing health care for people on Earth.

For a complete list of the selected proposals, principal investigators and organizations, see here.

posted 03-28-2014 11:29 PM               

T-365 to astronaut, cosmonaut spend year on space station

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has just a year left on Earth.

A veteran space station commander and half of history's first pair of twins to fly into orbit, Kelly will leave the planet in 2015 to become the first U.S. astronaut to spend a year in space.

"T-365: 1 year to 1 year (in space)," Kelly wrote on Twitter Friday (March 28). "Actually, there are 365.2422 days in a year, but who's counting? Me!"

Kelly, together with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, are now entering their final 12 months training for the first yearlong mission on the International Space Station. The pair were selected for the extended long-duration stay in 2012.

posted 08-11-2014 01:30 PM               

Space station's first year-long crew counts days to launch, debuts mission patch

Scott Kelly is 7 months and 17 days from becoming the first NASA astronaut to spend a year in space.

Well, maybe not a full year, at least based on the currently published schedules.

Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail "Misha" Kornienko are slated to launch to the International Space Station on March 28, 2015 for the first yearlong expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory. They are scheduled to return to Earth 346 days later – 19 days shy of an entire year – on March 7, 2016.

"I made a deal with the station program, they'll extend that to make it a whole year, but that doesn't show up on paper yet," Kelly told collectSPACE.com in a recent interview. "It better be [a full year], although I could be regretting that when March 7 rolls around and I think I could be home."

posted 12-18-2014 06:11 PM               

Next year in space: Astronaut, cosmonaut look forward to year on space station

For Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, the upcoming new year brings a special reason to be excited.

For unlike everyone else on this planet, Kelly, as a NASA astronaut, and Kornienko, a cosmonaut, will begin 2015 by launching on the first yearlong mission on the International Space Station.

"What makes this exciting, for me, this one-year flight is about the science and everything we're going to learn from expanding the envelope on the space station greater than we've currently done," Kelly said on Thursday (Dec. 18), speaking at a press conference previewing the yearlong mission at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. "We're going to go to Mars some day [and] the International Space Station is really a great platform to learn much more about having people live and work in space for longer durations."

"This one year flight is one of the many stepping stones towards leaving low Earth orbit," he said.

posted 03-30-2015 10:23 AM               

Got a reminder from the The White House of the President's call to action: "Good luck, Captain. Make sure to Instagram it! We're proud of you." — President Obama.

My first post from on orbit. Made it! Moving into crew quarters on the International Space Station. Thank you, Mr. President and to your wife, Mrs. Obama, for your continued support of this important #yearinspace‬mission that will expand our future in space exploration for all mankind. Happy to report for duty today.

posted 09-15-2015 12:04 AM               

Astronaut and cosmonaut at halfway point of year-long space station mission

One hundred seventy one (171) days ago, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko launched on the first (almost) year-long mission aboard the International Space Station.

On Tuesday (Sept. 15), they had another 171 days to go. Not that anyone in space was counting.

"I hope I do not get to the point where I start counting the days," said Kelly in an NASA interview a few days before reaching the halfway point of his and Kornienko's mission. "Every day in space is a great day."

The pair — two out of the station's six Expedition 45 crew members — are set to come home March 3, 2016. They are spending 342 days in space to gather data about how their bodies react and adapt to long duration spaceflight in preparation for sending astronauts further out into the solar system.

posted 02-26-2016 12:09 AM               

Year-in-space astronaut Scott Kelly packs for home but skips souvenir

Scott Kelly isn't bringing home a souvenir of his year in space.

The NASA astronaut, who has been living and working on the International Space Station since March 2015, is set to return home to Earth on Tuesday (March 1) after 340 days circling the planet. Kelly is the first American to embark on such a long mission and, together with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko is the first to stay for nearly a year at the orbiting outpost.

"I don't look at souvenirs that have been flown in space the same [way] that other people do, only because I've been in space so many times," Kelly explained Thursday (Feb. 25) in a press conference from the space station. "I absolutely understand why other people do and I respect that, but the fact that I've been here four times and well over 500 days, it doesn't have the same meaning to me."

posted 03-02-2016 12:14 AM               

Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko land on Earth after yearlong space mission

An astronaut and a cosmonaut who spent nearly one year on the International Space Station are now back on Earth.

Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos touched down on the snow-covered steppe of Kazakhstan on Russia's Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft. Their landing, at 10:26 p.m. CST on Tuesday (March 1; 0426 GMT or 10:26 a.m. local time March 2), marked the historic completion of their 340-day expedition.

Sergey Volkov, who had been on the space station for the six months since Sept. 2, landed with Kelly and Kornienko southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan.

posted 03-05-2016 02:53 PM               

Scott Kelly reflects on return to Earth after record 340 days in space

Scott Kelly took a breath in and smelled something he didn't recognize.

"It smells like a fragrance, like a plant was blooming in that area," the NASA astronaut said, recalling his first moments being back on the Earth after nearly a year in space.

"The air was refreshing because it was cool — and it was different than the air I experienced for the last 340 days," he said. "[But] that was the smell of burning Soyuz. It is the charred smell of the Soyuz. It has kind of a sweet smell to it."

posted 04-11-2019 11:32 PM               

NASA's Landmark Twins Study Reveals Resilience of Human Body in Space

Results from NASA's landmark Twins Study, which took place from 2015-2016, were published Thursday in Science. The integrated paper — encompassing work from 10 research teams — reveals some interesting, surprising and reassuring data about how one human body adapted to — and recovered from — the extreme environment of space.

The Twins Study provides the first integrated biomolecular view into how the human body responds to the spaceflight environment, and serves as a genomic stepping stone to better understand how to maintain crew health during human expeditions to the Moon and Mars.

Retired NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and his identical twin brother Mark, participated in the investigation, conducted by NASA's Human Research Program. Mark provided a baseline for observation on Earth, and Scott provided a comparable test case during the 340 days he spent in space aboard the International Space Station for Expeditions 43, 44, 45 and 46. Scott Kelly became the first American astronaut to spend nearly a year in space.

"The Twins Study has been an important step toward understanding epigenetics and gene expression in human spaceflight," said J.D. Polk, chief Health and Medical Officer at NASA Headquarters. "Thanks to the twin brothers and a cadre of investigators who worked tirelessly together, the valuable data gathered from the Twins Study has helped inform the need for personalized medicine and its role in keeping astronauts healthy during deep space exploration, as NASA goes forward to the Moon and journeys onward to Mars."

Key results from the NASA Twins Study include findings related to gene expression changes, immune system response, and telomere dynamics. Other changes noted in the integrated paper include broken chromosomes rearranging themselves in chromosomal inversions, and a change in cognitive function. Many of the findings are consistent with data collected in previous studies, and other research in progress.

The telomeres in Scott's white blood cells, which are biomarkers of aging at the end of chromosomes, were unexpectedly longer in space then shorter after his return to Earth with average telomere length returning to normal six months later. In contrast, his brother's telomeres remained stable throughout the entire period. Because telomeres are important for cellular genomic stability, additional studies on telomere dynamics are planned for future one-year missions to see whether results are repeatable for long-duration missions.

A second key finding is that Scott's immune system responded appropriately in space. For example, the flu vaccine administered in space worked exactly as it does on Earth. A fully functioning immune system during long-duration space missions is critical to protecting astronaut health from opportunistic microbes in the spacecraft environment.

A third significant finding is the variability in gene expression, which reflects how a body reacts to its environment and will help inform how gene expression is related to health risks associated with spaceflight. While in space, researchers observed changes in the expression of Scott's genes, with the majority returning to normal after six months on Earth. However, a small percentage of genes related to the immune system and DNA repair did not return to baseline after his return to Earth. Further, the results identified key genes to target for use in monitoring the health of future astronauts and potentially developing personalized countermeasures.

"A number of physiological and cellular changes take place during spaceflight," said Jennifer Fogarty, chief scientist of the Human Research Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We have only scratched the surface of knowledge about the body in space. The Twins Study gave us the first integrated molecular view into genetic changes, and demonstrated how a human body adapts and remains robust and resilient even after spending nearly a year aboard the International Space Station. The data captured from integrated investigations like the NASA Twins Study will be explored for years to come."

Part of the record-setting one-year mission, the NASA Twins Study incorporated 10 investigations to advance NASA's mission and benefit all of humanity. Scott participated in a number of biomedical studies, including research into how the human body adjusts to known hazards, such as weightlessness and space radiation. Meanwhile, Mark participated in parallel studies on Earth to help scientists compare the effects of space on a body down to the cellular level. The findings represent 27 months of data collection.

The Twins Study helped establish a framework of collaborative research that serves as a model for future biomedical research. Principal investigators at NASA and at research universities across the nation initiated an unprecedented sharing of data and discovery. Supported by 84 researchers at 12 locations across eight states, the data from this complex study was channeled into one inclusive study, providing the most comprehensive and integrated molecular view to date of how a human responds to the spaceflight environment. While significant, it is difficult to draw conclusions for all humans or future astronauts from a single test subject in the spaceflight environment.

"To our knowledge, this team of teams has conducted a study unprecedented in its scope across levels of human biology: from molecular analyses of human cells and the microbiome to human physiology to cognition," said Craig Kundrot, director, Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Application Division at NASA Headquarters. "This paper is the first report of this highly integrated study that began five years ago when the investigators first gathered. We look forward to the publication of additional analyses and follow-up studies with future crew members as we continue to improve our ability to live and work in space and venture forward to the Moon and on to Mars."

The unique aspects of the Twins Study created the opportunity for innovative genomics research, propelling NASA into an area of space travel research involving a field of study known as "omics," which integrates multiple biological disciplines. Long-term effects of research, such as the ongoing telomeres investigation, will continue to be studied.

NASA has a rigorous training process to prepare astronauts for their missions, including a thoroughly planned lifestyle and work regime while in space, and an excellent rehabilitation and reconditioning program when they return to Earth. Thanks to these measures and the astronauts who tenaciously accomplish them, the human body remains robust and resilient even after spending a year in space.