Week in Geek - Year in space
On Friday, Oct. 16, Scott Kelly begins his 383rd day living in space, surpassing U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke’s record. Credit: Scott Kelly/NASA
My latest post for The Rachel Maddow Show.
Week in Geek: Year in space edition
On Tuesday, March 1st, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will complete his epic “Year in Space” mission aboard the International Space Station. Kelly and fellow “year-long” ISS crew member, cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, arrived at the station as part of Expedition 43 on March 28, 2015 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.
While just shy of a full calendar year, Kelly’s mission has been a unique opportunity for NASA to study the effects of human space flight on the human body because they had as close as you can get to a “control”: Kelly’s identical twin brother, Mark. Sending one twin to space for a year while the other remained Earth-bound will allow NASA to better understand the stress of long duration space flight, which is vital if we ever hope to travel further than the Moon.
Also features: barnacles, super blooms, solar power, and Fermilab.
Read the full article here.
