Scott Kelly is back in the United States after spending 340 days in space, aboard the International Space Station.
It is the longest a US astronaut has ever spent in space on a single trip.
Along with his crewmates he was involved in more than 450 experiments while on board.
Life in microgravity meant his height increased by 3.8cm but he has since returned to his normal size back on Earth.
Ramin’s comment:
It is a great pleasure to see a fellow UT (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) graduate who has made us all proud with his mission to space. I congratulate him and his family for such great achievemne.
He received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College[22] in 1987, and a M.S. degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1996.
Regarding his space experiences he has shared some valuable information that can be used for further studies. Immediately after exiting the Soyuz capsule, Kelly said he felt stronger than he did in 2011, after he had spent 159 days in space. “This time I felt better coming out of the capsule, but at some point those two lines must have crossed,” he said. Now he has a lot of muscle fatigue and soreness. When asked which muscle groups were sore Kelly replied, “Most of them.”
Another unexpected issue came with his skin. In space, in microgravity, not much touched his skin in the free floating environment. Back on Earth he’s found it to be very sensitive to the touch. “There’s almost a burning feeling whenever I sit or lay down,” he said. Kelly had put on dress shoes for the news conference, but he had more comfortable sneakers at hand for afterward.
And that was about the extent of the health information shared by Kelly or scientists associated with his “one-year” mission to the International Space Station. Qualitatively, we learned, Scott Kelly feels alright for having spent a year in space. But quantitatively we got no answers about any changes he experienced compared to his twin, astronaut Mark Kelly, who remained on the ground. In summary, we are still learning and will explore more on what his mission will tell us for more mission coming up by NASA. It is a great achievement for us as a human to see science and technology is taking us to places that man has not been before. It is an exciting moment for us and we will see more success and surprising discoveries soon.