Would you accept being alone, away from family and friends, in an unkown and potentially dangerous place --- for one year? But I am not talking about a desert or a forest. Would you accept being one entire year in the vacuum of space? Well, a brave person did. And no, I am not talking about The Martian.
On Wednesday, March 2, NASA’s astronaut Scott Kelly will finally return from his 340 - day mission on the International Space Station. He is expected to return to Houston approximately 24 hours after his landing in Kazakhstan.
Kelly flew to the space station on March 27, 2015. He broke the record for most days spent outside of Earth, and, when he comes back, he will have an incredible total of 520 days spent in outer - space missions.
The whole purpose of this long journey is to test how the human body will react to a long time outside of the planet, where it is exposed to situations such as reduced gravity and radiation. Throughout the mission, Kelly has participated on various researches that will help NASA explore the possibilities of a trip to Mars, that would take at least 500 days to be completed.
In addition to measuring effects on a single human, the study will also be able to make a comparison between life on space and life on Earth. How? Well, it happens that science can also get lucky. Scott Kelly has an identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, who spent the entire year on ground. Comparing data collected from both brothers regarding their health conditions, scientists will be able to analyze the effects of different environments on even a molecular level.
Once the study is done, we can probably know whether traveling to a foreign planet is risky and impossible or a dream to be completed in a far future. A small step for now, but the first step of a fantastic journey.
Credits:
www.nasa.gov
It is awesome to know that we might me able to spend vacation in a foreign planet. That would be really exciting. Would you be interested at all in spending several days in outer-space?
ReplyDelete