The Irish American NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is currently located 200 miles above the surface of the Earth, but he seems to be enjoying his stint at the International Space Station quite a lot. He was launched to the ISS on March 27, 2015 along with Russian cosmonaut duo Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko.
Within just a few days of stepping onto the ISS, Kelly has started sharing images of the spectacular view of our planet from the space via his Twitter account.
Kelly will be spending a year at the ISS and this is just the start of his stint. This is the part of the study during which Kelly and his twin brother Mark (Scott and Mark are identical twins) has agreed to play the role of human guinea pigs. Once complete, NASA is expecting this research to be present some ground-breaking facts about the kind of impact prolonged stay in the space can have on human body. If Scott becomes successful in spending 365 days in the ISS, he will be breaking the US record of spending maximum cumulative time in space.
However, Kelly will definitely not be the only record breaker; one of his Russian companions in space Gennady Padalka who will be with him for the initial six months will leave the ISS after creating the record of spending maximum cumulative time in space by any human.
While Scott will be observing the earth from space during the next one year, his brother and retired astronaut Mark will play the role of the research’s “control”. Both Mark and Scott will be undergoing comparative genetic tests during this phase; reports suggest that NASA has plans of carrying out more than 400 experiments during the next one year.
https://thehoopsnews.com/2015/04/09/4301/nasa-demonstrates-3d-printing-in-zero-g-technology-video/
For those who don’t know: Mark also happens to be the husband of noted politician Gabby Giffords.
It might sound a bit surprising, but it’s true that the research was originally proposed by Mark and Scott. They came up with such a proposal to help the American space agency prepare for long-term human expeditions to space. This appears to be a real big help for NASA as it is looking to send humans to Mars by 2030.
