A Year in Space

NASA astronaut, Scott Kelly, is coming home after spending a full year in the International Space Station. Although the portion of this mission and scientific study from Low Earth orbit is concluding, there is still much that will be learned. Scott, and his identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, participated in the mission to determine some of the long-term effects of space on the human body. The information collected throughout this year and the follow-up to it will be critical in understanding the risks and feasibility of a Mars mission.

As usual, there is a ton of info out there to wade through. Here are a few quick links that will get you up to speed on this mission.

First of all, during the next few days (March 1^st-4^th 2016) NASA TV will be covering Scott Kelly’s return from space. Follow this link for a full schedule of coverage. NASA TV is a great resource for home or the classroom. From live feeds of spacewalks and launches to important press conferences, there are lots of interesting things going on all of the time!

Here are NASA’s “10 Thing You Need to Know” about the Year in Space mission.

Scott Kelly took some amazing photos while he was living in the space station. Check out this link for the best pictures from his year in space. 

Time for Kids covered many milestones throughout this mission. You’ll find some great science articles written for kids here. Including “My Dad is Out of This World” by Charlotte Kelly, Scott’s daughter.

If you are looking for resources and more information about how to teach or share Scott Kelly’s mission with children check out my post, “NASA’s Twin Study: Launching Science Lessons”.

Stay tuned…it will be fascinating to see the human physiology research that comes from this study!

Updated 3/2/16:
A great infographic about the human physiology questions that may be answered through Kelly's research (click image to see full size) and the landing video!