One-year spaceman sees mission as ‘steppingstone’ to Mars

Research on how long term space travel will impact human health will kick into high gear next week as NASA astronaut Scott Kelly comes back to Earth after an 11-month stay at the International Space Station.

Kelly has been living at the International Space Station (ISS) since March 27th, 2015. His mission will go to NASA’s history books as Kelly will have spent 340 consecutive days in space, marking a new record.

Scott Kelly is set to return to Earth on March 1.

During the mission, Scott has completed 5,440 laps around the planet, logged 143.8 million miles and welcomed nine visiting spacecrafts.

Kelly shared the place with 14 other humans, including his roommate for the long haul, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who will also be his companion on the trip returning to Earth.

He’ll take a crack at a mini-obstacle course and attempt to walk a straight line, heel to toe. Additionally, he’s been involved in a NASA twins study with his identical twin brother, retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly.

“I could go another 100 days; I could go another year if I had to”, he added. Brinda Rana from the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, said that main aim of NASA is to maintain good health of its crew members throughout long duration missions.

“It’s not at all surprising to me that so many Americans from diverse backgrounds want to personally contribute to blazing the trail on our journey to Mars”, said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, himself a former astronaut.

Scott Kelly, who previously spent 159 days on the station, said the hardest part of being in space for so long was being separated from his friends and family. “It would just depend on what I was doing and if it made sense – although I do look forward to getting home here next week”, he said during a news conference on February 25.