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  [Discuss] Year on ISS: Kelly and Kornienko (Page 2)

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Author Topic:   [Discuss] Year on ISS: Kelly and Kornienko
Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-03-2016 05:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Mark Kelly has written about his brother's return to Earth for NBC News:
He's home — back on our planet.

Late last night here in Houston, I helped welcome my brother Scott Kelly home from his year aboard the International Space Station.

Along with my wife Gabby, Scott's daughters, his girlfriend, our dad, and so many other loved ones and colleagues, we greeted Scott at Ellington Joint Base Reserve as he stepped off a NASA aircraft and — finally — onto American soil.

After 5,440 orbits around our planet, after the sun went up and down 10,944 times (the sun rises or sets every 45 minutes in space), and after flying over 100 million miles, Scott's year in space is now over.

And he's safe. All things considered, he's feeling great. He said the first thing he wanted to do when he gets to his house in Houston is jump in his swimming pool.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-05-2016 02:59 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by dabolton:
Has Scott Kelly announced if he will retire from NASA after this or does he intend on returning to space again someday?
During his press conference Friday (March 4), Scott said:
I'll never be done with space, I will always be involved.

Whether I fly in space again — you know even my brother who has been retired for a bunch of years, he still hasn't given up the idea that he is going to fly in space again. So if I don't do it with NASA — I doubt I would fly again with NASA, having the most time in space by any American; we have so many talented people in our office, there's no reason to fly me again, they would fly somebody else that hasn't had as much opportunity to do that.

But I don't think I would ever say I'm absolutely 100 percent done because I think there is a lot of exciting possibilities out there, maybe in the commercial aspects and they might need a guy like me someday. Maybe in the next 20 years you'll be able to just buy a cheap ticket and go for a little visit.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-05-2016 03:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by David C:
I'd be surprised if any suggested medical consensus that the assessment of two males over eleven months is sufficient to clear males and females for three years was motivated by anything other than expediency.
Julie Robinson, NASA's chief scientist in the International Space Station Program, addressed this question in a press conference before Scott Kelly's on Friday:
We really would like to see 10 or 12 crew members with long duration data in order to be confident that sometime when we go around the table and health and medical says they are "go for Mars," that we know what all the risks are and we've alleviated them all. So at its core, scientifically, we need more subjects.

Now there are a lot of partnership issues that we have to work out in deciding who those subjects would be, when those subjects would fly and we're still working on that with our partners.

One thing that is really important is having this first set of data back. As we get some of the early results over the next year to two years, and as we work with our Russian colleagues and the data — because it is not just the data on Scott, it is also the data on Misha — and as that data gets together, we're going to start seeing if it is absolutely urgent that we get some more crew members right away or is it something we could maybe back-load at the end of ISS. So we still don't have that information either.

Ronpur
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posted 03-05-2016 06:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ronpur   Click Here to Email Ronpur     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sensitivity of the skin to touch is something I have never heard before. Is this something new, or have other long term astronauts encountered it upon their return?

Tom
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posted 03-06-2016 10:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tom   Click Here to Email Tom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great jacket Scott is wearing with all of his spaceflights represented... except one (TMA 16M patch).

David C
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posted 03-06-2016 03:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for David C     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
...at its core, scientifically, we need more subjects.

As we get some of the early results over the next year to two years, and as we work with our Russian colleagues and the data — because it is not just the data on Scott, it is also the data on Misha — and as that data gets together, we're going to start seeing if it is absolutely urgent that we get some more crew members right away or is it something we could maybe back-load at the end of ISS. So we still don't have that information either.
That sounds prudent.
quote:
Originally posted by Ronpur:
Sensitivity of the skin to touch is something I have never heard before. Is this something new, or have other long term astronauts encountered it upon their return?
I've never heard this either, but with such small samples of subjects I guess some individual variation is inevitable. Much larger samples will be needed before "typical" can be assessed.

Tykeanaut
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posted 03-08-2016 07:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
As an aside, medically and psychologically, there is little difference between 340 and 365 days.
I agree with the duration comment Robert, but psychologically orbiting in LEO is easier than the distance and isolation that would have to be endured to get to Mars.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-08-2016 08:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Scott's perspective on that was a bit different. During and after the mission, he said that spending six months flying out to Mars and spending six months flying back might be easier than just orbiting the Earth because you have a destination to look forward to:
I think if there is a valid reason, if there is a good reason, whether it is science or going to a certain destination, not just me, but I think people just rise to the occasion. If you're doing something important, it is going to motivate you to continue to do it, so I personally think going to Mars, if it takes two years or two and a half years, that's doable. Certainly, for the first people that go there, that's going to be a big motivator, being first to get to Mars.
For himself, he used milestones on the space station to keep him going:
I tried to have milestones that were close, like when the next crew is arriving, when is the next visiting vehicle arriving, the next EVA, the next robotics, the next big science activity — and I think that made a difference to me keeping my sanity.
During the expedition, he suggested that those designing a trip to Mars might also want to build in milestones to the journey for the same reason.

Tykeanaut
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posted 03-10-2016 03:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I obviously respect his opinion and would agree with his observations.

However, due to previous radiation exposure I'm assuming any astronaut traveling to Mars would not have already experienced a long-duration mission in preparation? This would make selection and the unknowns very important and delicate.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-11-2016 02:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I don't have his quote transcribed (nor can I find it at the moment) but Scott Kelly said something to the effect that it would be a poor idea to send someone without prior long duration experience on a mission of a year or more in length.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-11-2016 02:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by dabolton:
Has Scott Kelly announced if he will retire from NASA after this...
From Bill Harwood with CBS on Twitter:
Astronaut Scott Kelly, just back from a record 340-day stay in space, is retiring from NASA at the end of the month, sources say.

Kelly will continue participation in medical data collection, the sources say, to help learn more about the effects of the space environment.

Update: NASA has announced Scott Kelly's retirement, effective April 1.

Paul78zephyr
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posted 04-08-2016 01:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul78zephyr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Any updates on Scott Kelly's medical conditions (ie muscle pain, skin sensitivity)?

Is there a Earth Re-Adaptation Syndrome (ERAS) analogous to Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS)?

Robert Pearlman
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posted 01-26-2017 05:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Preliminary results are in from NASA's twin study, reports Nature.
From the lengths of the twins' chromosomes to the microbiomes in their guts, "almost everyone is reporting that we see differences", says Christopher Mason, a geneticist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. He and other project scientists reported the early results on 26 January in Galveston, Texas, at a meeting of scientists working in NASA's Human Research Program. "The data are so fresh that some of them are still coming off the sequencing machines," Mason says.

The challenge now is to untangle how many of the observed changes are specific to the physical demands of spaceflight — and how many might be simply due to natural variations. And because the Kelly twins are just two people, the results may not be generalizable to others.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-02-2018 04:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA release
NASA Twins Study Confirms Preliminary Findings

The Twin Study propelled NASA into the genomics era of space travel. It was a ground-breaking study comparing what happened to astronaut Scott Kelly, in space, to his identical twin brother, Mark, who remained on Earth. The perfect nature versus nurture study was born.

The Twins Study brought ten research teams from around the country together to accomplish one goal: discover what happens to the human body after spending one year in space. NASA has a grasp on what happens to the body after the standard-duration six-month missions aboard the International Space Station, but Scott Kelly's one-year mission is a stepping stone to a three-year mission to Mars.

If the results of the Twins Study are like a play, Act 1 began at NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) 2017 Investigators' Workshop (IWS), where the ten teams presented their preliminary findings. Reports included data on what happened to Scott Kelly, physiologically and psychologically, while he was in space, and compared the data to Mark Kelly, as a control subject on Earth. The 2018 IWS is Act 2, where findings from 2017 were corroborated, with some additions. Researchers also presented what happened to Scott after he returned to Earth, again while making comparisons to Mark. Act 3 will be debuted later in 2018 when an integrated summary publication is expected to be released.

By measuring large numbers of metabolites, cytokines, and proteins, researchers learned that spaceflight is associated with oxygen deprivation stress, increased inflammation, and dramatic nutrient shifts that affect gene expression.

After returning to Earth, Scott started the process of readapting to Earth's gravity. Most of the biological changes he experienced in space quickly returned to nearly his preflight status. Some changes returned to baseline within hours or days of landing, while a few persisted after six months.

Scott's telomeres (endcaps of chromosomes that shorten as one ages) actually became significantly longer in space. While this finding was presented in 2017, the team verified this unexpected change with multiple assays and genomics testing. Additionally, a new finding is that the majority of those telomeres shortened within two days of Scott's return to Earth.

Another interesting finding concerned what some call the "space gene", which was alluded to in 2017. Researchers now know that 93% of Scott's genes returned to normal after landing. However, the remaining 7% point to possible longer term changes in genes related to his immune system, DNA repair, bone formation networks, hypoxia, and hypercapnia.

Increasing mission duration from the typical six-month ISS mission to one year resulted in no significant decreases in Scott's cognitive performance while inflight and relative to his twin brother Mark on the ground. However, a more pronounced decrease in speed and accuracy was reported postflight, possibly due to re-exposure and adjustment to Earth's gravity, and the busy schedule that enveloped Scott after his mission.

For additional detail on preliminary findings, visit NASA Twins Study Investigators to Release Integrated Paper in 2018. All of these findings are being integrated and summarized by the research teams; researchers are also evaluating the possible impact that these findings will have on future space travel beyond low Earth orbit. The next step for Twins Study investigators is Act 3, as referenced above. An integrated summary paper will be published later this year. A series of smaller papers grouped by related research areas will also be released.

The Twins Study has benefited NASA by providing the first application of genomics to evaluate potential risks to the human body in space. The NASA Twins Study also presented a unique opportunity for investigators to collaborate, participating in a team approach to HRP research.

Observations guide development of future hypotheses. Research from the landmark Twins Study will inform NASA's Human Research Program studies for years to come, as NASA continues to prioritize the health and safety of astronauts on spaceflight missions.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-16-2018 09:31 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In response to articles incorrectly claiming that Scott Kelly's DNA had been changed by his time in space, NASA issued the following statement updating the above release on March 15, 2018:
Mark and Scott Kelly are still identical twins; Scott's DNA did not fundamentally change. What researchers did observe are changes in gene expression, which is how your body reacts to your environment. This likely is within the range for humans under stress, such as mountain climbing or SCUBA diving.

The change related to only 7 percent of the gene expression that changed during spaceflight that had not returned to preflight after six months on Earth. This change of gene expression is very minimal. We are at the beginning of our understanding of how spaceflight affects the molecular level of the human body. NASA and the other researchers collaborating on these studies expect to announce more comprehensive results on the twins studies this summer.

SpaceAholic
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posted 03-16-2018 10:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Scott Kelly’s medical monitoring has spawned some horrific press coverage, from Ars Technica.
Something very strange happened in the world of science news this week. A month-and-a-half-old press release, which reiterated news that was released in 2017, suddenly spawned a flurry of coverage. To make matters worse, a lot of that coverage repeated claims that range from biologically nonsensical to impossible. So if you've seen any mention of astronaut Scott Kelly's DNA this week, it's probably best if you immediately forget anything you read about it.

denali414
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posted 04-14-2019 11:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for denali414   Click Here to Email denali414     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
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.

The telomere lengthening is fascinating. While more studies need to be done there are many applications both for earth bound people and for long duration space flight.

Also good news, that "most" of the differences did come back to normal after a few months. Our bodies are just such an amazing machine that adapts very efficiently.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 03-29-2021 10:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In a study published on Monday (March 29) in the journal Circulation, scientists reported that the largest chamber of the heart of Scott Kelly, who spent nearly a year on the International Space Station in 2015 and 2016, shrank in mass by more than one-quarter by the time he returned to Earth, reports The New York Times.
But a smaller heart did not appear to have any ill effects on Mr. Kelly.

"He did remarkably well over one year," said Dr. Benjamin D. Levine, the senior author of the Circulation paper and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas.

"His heart adapted to the reduced gravity," Dr. Levine said. "It didn't become dysfunctional, the excess capacity didn't get reduced to a critical level. He remained reasonably fit. His heart shrank and atrophied kind of as you'd expect from going into space."


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