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

In this Saturday, March 28, 2015 photo, a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft launches to the International Space Station carrying Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) from the Baikonur, Kazakhstan cosmodrome.

Since arriving at the space station on March, 27, 2015, Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Korneinko have served with eight different crewmates, unpacked six cargo ships, weathered two botched supply runs and participated in dozens of science experiments. Scott even has taken blood and urine samples and they will be brought back to earth to be studied by NASA’s Human Research Program, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and 10 investigative teams around the country.

He will return to Earth holding the record of the longest time spent in space by an American. And even though Kelly has stuck to a strict exercise regimen while aboard the ISS, spending time in microgravity can have an adverse affect on muscle and bones, so scientists will be able to compare how the two brothers match up physically as well.

The brothers have submitted to similar medical tests for more than a year and will keep it up in the months ahead.

As most of America prepares for Super Tuesday, Scott Kelly – American astronaut and retired U.S. Navy Captain – is preparing for his return home.

“Leaving this wonderful facility is going to be tough because I will probably never see it again”, said Kelly, 52, who has flown to space four times in his career.

NASA polled the public on what to name a new module for the space station.

“Our studies will provide important data on how the space environment impacts the human body at the molecular level so that NASA can identify risk factors and countermeasures for possible health issues induced by prolonged space travel, such as a mission to Mars”, said Rana.

And Russian Genny Padalka – who flew to space with Kelly and Kornienko previous year – has spent a total of 878 days in space.

That knowledge will play a critical role in future NASA missions deeper into the solar system and on the Journey to Mars, in which a round-trip mission is likely to last 500 days or longer. I could go another year if I had to.

“I think we’ll learn a lot about longer-duration spaceflight and how that will take us to Mars someday”, Kelly said Thursday in his final news conference from orbit.