Support NeoGAF

[GK86]

The Astronaut and Cosmonaut:

Scott Kelly (left) and Mikhail Kornienko (right)

When do they land?

They will land in the Kazakhstan desert at approximately 11:27pm ET Tuesday March 1.

Can I stream the landing?

NASA should have a stream starting around 4pm.

The mission:

Most expeditions to the space station last four to six months. By doubling the length of this mission, researchers hope to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. This knowledge is critical as NASA looks toward human journeys deeper into the solar system, including to and from Mars, which could last 500 days or longer. It also carries potential benefits for humans here on Earth, from helping patients recover from long periods of bed rest to improving monitoring for people whose bodies are unable to fight infections.

Long exposure to a zero-gravity environment can affect the human body in multiple ways. Some physical symptoms can include changes to the eyes, muscle atrophy and bone loss. Human psychology is also an important area of study, as the effects of living in isolated and small spaces will be important to understand ahead of future human missions to Mars. Research collected from the one-year mission can help NASA and the international partners reduce risks and better understand how to ensure astronauts will thrive on longer missions.

As well as a twins study:

While Scott Kelly is in space, his identical twin brother, retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, will participate in a number of comparative genetic studies. Some of these experiments will include the collection of blood samples as well as psychological and physical tests. These tests will track any degeneration or evolution that occurs in the human body from extended exposure to a zero-gravity environment. The new twin studies are a multi-faceted national cooperation between universities, corporations and government laboratory expertise.

Videos:

• Scott Kelly reflects on his mission.
• Time's documentary series on their mission.

Pictures taken by Scott Kelly over the year:

Cool frozen lake in #Himalayas!:

The snows of the #AleutianIslands #volcanoes:

GobiDesert is said to be so long it would take the length of my mission to travel from end to end:

Bahamas #EarthArt Watercolors!:

Blizzard2016 gave us an impressive view below. Stay warm!:

I've missed the color green. Found a nice patch of it in #Africa today:

Manhattan:

Trivia:

• The International Space Station zips around Earth at more than 17,000 miles per hour, or once every 90 minutes. That means over the course of Mr. Kelly’s stay, the space station will have made 5,440 orbits, and the sun will have gone up and down 10,944 times from the perspective of the astronauts aboard. Of course, Mr. Kelly did not see all of them. He is not continuously looking out the window, and he sleeps, too.
  
• 143,846,525 miles
  
  That is the distance that Mr. Kelly will have traveled during this mission, or roughly the distance for a one-way trip to Mars. Of course, on the space station, Mr. Kelly was never more than about 250 miles from Earth.
  
• 193 gallons
  
  That is the amount of recycled urine and sweat that Mr. Kelly will have drunk, according to NASA. Water is heavy and expensive to transport from Earth, so for efficiency, water is continually recycled. That technology will be essential for interplanetary missions in which astronauts will not have anywhere to stop to pick up supplies.
  
• The all-time record for consecutive days in space is almost 438 days. That was achieved by Valeri Polyakov on the old Russian Mir space station back in 1994 and 1995.
  
• After a year, this happens.

Edit -

NASA's TV coverage:

Monday, Feb. 29

• 3:10 p.m. -- Change of command ceremony (Scott Kelly hands over space station command to Tim Kopra)

Tuesday, March 1

• 4:15 p.m. -- Farewell and hatch closure coverage; hatch closure scheduled at 4:40 p.m.
• 7:45 p.m. -- Undocking coverage; undocking scheduled at 8:05 p.m.
• 10:15 p.m. -- Deorbit burn and landing coverage; deorbit burn scheduled at 10:34 p.m., with landing at 11:27 p.m. (10:27 a.m. on March 2, Kazakhstan time)

Wednesday, March 2

• 1:30 a.m. -- Video file of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities
• 11:45 p.m. -- Live coverage of Kelly's Return to Houston (based on current landing and transportation plans). Second Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Dr. John P. Holdren, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Kelly’s identical twin brother and former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly will be in Houston to welcome Kelly home. The event will be pooled press only.

Friday, March 4

• 11 a.m. --NASA scientists and medical doctors from NASA’s Johnson Space Center will answer questions about the science behind the one-year mission on Reddit.com. Submit questions at http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA.
• 1 p.m. -- Media Briefing: Key members from NASA’s science community will discuss the research accomplishments and the next steps for the more than 400 experiments that took place during Kelly’s year in space. The briefing participants are:
• Julie Robinson, International Space Station Program chief scientist
• John Charles, Human Research Program associate manager for international science
• Mark Kelly, brother to Scott Kelly, Twins Study participant and former NASA astronaut

• 2 p.m -- Media Briefing: Scott Kelly will share his personal perspective on the mission and answer questions about his time at the space station. To participate in the news conferences from a NASA facility, U.S. media must call that location’s public affairs office by 5 p.m. Thursday, March 3. To participate by phone, media must call the Johnson newsroom no later than 15 minutes before each briefing. Those following the briefing on social media may ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA.

 

[Junior Asparagus]

Scott Kelly (right) and Mikhail Kornienko (left)

From our perspective, Kelly is on the left. Check those flag patches.

 

[GK86]

In Soviet Russia, it is backwards.

 

[Princess Carl]

From our perspective, Kelly is on the left. Check those flag patches.

Ya i noticed that as well.

 

[Princess Carl]

Goddam I need a bigger version of frozen lake.

 

[Mac the KNife]

Interesting study, especially with the twin brother aspect.

More please, NASA.

 

[MichaelFassbender]

Any confirmation that either of them have developed SPACE MADNESS?

 

[Princess Carl]

Any confirmation that either of them have developed SPACE MADNESS?

What if only one steps out?!

 

[cameron]

The results of the twin study will be interesting. Mark Kelly is the control subject on Earth.

“We realized this is a unique opportunity to perform a class of novel studies because we had one twin flying aboard the International Space Station and one twin on the ground,” says Craig Kundrot, Ph.D. and deputy chief scientist of NASA’s Human Research Program. “We can study two individuals who have the same genetics, but are in different environments for one year.”

The investigations, which were picked from a pool of 40 proposals, introduce to space physiology the field of –omics, the integrated study of DNA, RNA, and the entire complement of biomolecules in the human body. Studying human physiology at this fundamental level will provide NASA and the broader spaceflight community with unique information. This is because these tiny components of the human body tell researchers volumes about an individual’s composition and their reaction to stressors like those associated with spaceflight. Investigating the subtle changes – or lack thereof – between the Kelly brothers at this level, after Scott’s year in space and Mark’s year on Earth, could shed light between the nature vs. nurture aspect of the effects of spaceflight on the human body.

The studies will focus on four areas: human physiology, behavioral health, microbiology/microbiome, and molecular or -omics studies. Human physiological investigations will look at how the spaceflight environment may induce changes in different organs like the heart, muscles or brain within the body. Behavioral health investigations will help characterize the effects spaceflight may have on perception and reasoning, decision making and alertness. The microbiology/microbiome investigations will explore the brothers’ dietary differences and stressors to find out how both affect the organisms in the twins’ guts. Lastly, but potentially opening a whole new realm of information about humans exposed to the spaceflight environment are the molecular or -omics investigations. These studies will look at the way genes in the cells are turned on and off as a result of spaceflight; and how stressors like radiation, confinement and microgravity prompt changes in the proteins and metabolites gathered in biological samples like blood, saliva, urine and stool.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-launches-new-research-seeks-the-subtle-in-parallel-ways-u

Astronauts Mark Kelly (right), STS-124 commander, and Scott Kelly are pictured in the check-out facility at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center as the STS-124 crewmembers prepare for a flight to Kennedy Space Center in NASA T-38 trainer jets.

http://www.nasa.gov/twins-study/about

 

[Rad-]

Wow.

 

[Leynos]

Recycled sweat? I knew about the recycled urine, but how do they collect sweat?

 

[GK86]

NASA's TV coverage:

Monday, Feb. 29

• 3:10 p.m. -- Change of command ceremony (Scott Kelly hands over space station command to Tim Kopra)

Tuesday, March 1

• 4:15 p.m. -- Farewell and hatch closure coverage; hatch closure scheduled at 4:40 p.m.
• 7:45 p.m. -- Undocking coverage; undocking scheduled at 8:05 p.m.
• 10:15 p.m. -- Deorbit burn and landing coverage; deorbit burn scheduled at 10:34 p.m., with landing at 11:27 p.m. (10:27 a.m. on March 2, Kazakhstan time)

Wednesday, March 2

• 1:30 a.m. -- Video file of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities
• 11:45 p.m. -- Live coverage of Kelly's Return to Houston (based on current landing and transportation plans). Second Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Dr. John P. Holdren, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Kelly’s identical twin brother and former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly will be in Houston to welcome Kelly home. The event will be pooled press only.

Friday, March 4

• 11 a.m. --NASA scientists and medical doctors from NASA’s Johnson Space Center will answer questions about the science behind the one-year mission on Reddit.com. Submit questions at http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA.
• 1 p.m. -- Media Briefing: Key members from NASA’s science community will discuss the research accomplishments and the next steps for the more than 400 experiments that took place during Kelly’s year in space. The briefing participants are:
• Julie Robinson, International Space Station Program chief scientist
• John Charles, Human Research Program associate manager for international science
• Mark Kelly, brother to Scott Kelly, Twins Study participant and former NASA astronaut

• 2 p.m -- Media Briefing: Scott Kelly will share his personal perspective on the mission and answer questions about his time at the space station. To participate in the news conferences from a NASA facility, U.S. media must call that location’s public affairs office by 5 p.m. Thursday, March 3. To participate by phone, media must call the Johnson newsroom no later than 15 minutes before each briefing. Those following the briefing on social media may ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA.

 

[Anoregon]

Is it possible to see the ISS or satellites from earth with the naked eye? A couple of weeks ago I was out walking my dogs at night, and saw what sort of looked like a moving star high in the sky. It definitely appeared to be higher/farther away than an airplane would be, and it was just a steady point of light arcing across the sky as opposed to having the flashing lights you tend to see on airplanes.

 

[Aiii]

Is it possible to see the ISS or satellites from earth with the naked eye? A couple of weeks ago I was out walking my dogs at night, and saw what sort of looked like a moving star high in the sky. It definitely appeared to be higher/farther away than an airplane would be, and it was just a steady point of light arcing across the sky as opposed to having the flashing lights you tend to see on airplanes.

Yes, it's perfectly possible to see the ISS with the naked eye, provided the weather is clear, it's not in Earth's shadow and it's passing roughly straight overhead from where you are.

You need to be within these yellow lines: http://www.isstracker.com/

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Woah, didn't realize Kelly had a twin. They're gonna get some great comparative biological data for this. The next question though is what, if anything, can we do about any kinds of atrophy that might be discovered?

 

[Clydefrog]

"Two weeks to go, buddy!"

Oh wait, never mind

What an interesting study of the Kelly twins. We are still barely space pioneers.

 

[StarCreator]

Woah, didn't realize Kelly had a twin. They're gonna get some great comparative biological data for this. The next question though is what, if anything, can we do about any kinds of atrophy that might be discovered?

Yep, both astronauts with hours in space too. These days Mark is sometimes better known for being the husband of Gabrielle Giffords though.

 

[Yamauchi]

Yep, both astronauts with hours in space too. These days Mark is sometimes better known for being the husband of Gabrielle Giffords though.

Oh dear, I thought Scott was Giffords' husband this whole time.

 

[StarCreator]

Oh dear, I thought Scott was Giffords' husband this whole time.

It's an easy mistake to make.

Mark would likely not have retired from NASA if not for the shooting though :/

 

[RoKKeR]

Kelly has been a great Twitter follow, quite the journey.

 

[Jarrod38]

Are any of the major networks going show it?

 

[GK86]

Scott tweeted this sunrise:

Are any of the major networks going show it?

I doubt it. Space isn't as popular as it was.

 

[GK86]

Starting. Live stream there.

 

[RageWaffles]

Undocking is complete. Landing coverage begins at 10:15 p.m. EST, with the landing happening at 11:25 p.m.

NASA's stream: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

 

[GK86]

It looks so lonely up there.

 

[GraveRobberX]

Well I have something in common

I also will be going home from an overstay at a hospital for roughly a year+

 

[Lonestar]

Landing Confirmed

 

[antonz]

Got to say I'm jealous. Would be amazing to get to spend a year floating around Earth and all the amazing views.

Glad he is back safe

 

[GK86]

Got to say I'm jealous. Would be amazing to get to spend a year floating around Earth and all the amazing views.

Glad he is back safe

I would love just being up there for a day.

 

[Stinkles]

Recycled sweat? I knew about the recycled urine, but how do they collect sweat?

Fasten it desert fashion.

 

[John Dunbar]

i hope they had fun sexy time up there.

 

[Mully]

How the Soyuz leaves the ISS and enters back into the Earth by the ESA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l7MM9yoxII

 

[Lionel Richie]

Alright! So we're finally getting a new Neurosis album. I hope it's trippy.

 

[Leynos]

Fasten it desert fashion.

So, basically this?

 

[Stinkles]

So, basically this?

Walk without rhythm. Shai Hulud can hear your footsteps.