US space-endurance champ says he could do another year

Kelly also made three spacewalks outside the $100 billion station, which flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, and Kornienko made one. When he climbs into a Soyuz spacecraft next Tuesday night, he will have completed a 340-day mission in space, the longest ever by any NASA astronaut.

“And I think that probably had a lot to do with the fact that my sister-in-law, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot two months prior”, Kelly said.

Kelly reflected on his time aboard the ISS, with some nostalgia, but noted there have been challenges.

In his final news conference from the International Space Station today, Kelly said the toughest thing is being isolated from loved ones. “Over the past year, I’ve been able to play a personal role in some of that research, and by speaking up about why it’s important, everyone who participated has played a part of their own”.

Before leaving to the space station, Kornienko said he asked Vladimir Titov, a retired cosmonaut who spent a year in space in 1988, about what to expect after the mission.

Overall Kelly said his health after more than 11 months in space is holding up well. “I’ve flown in space four times now, so it’s going to be hard in that respect, but I certainly look forward to going back to Earth”.

You can check out Kelly and Kornienko’s home journey live on NASA TV next Tuesday March 1, with farewells and hatch closure on the ISS kicking off at 4:15pm ET.

Such an insight as to how the body changes during an extended stay in space, will benefit future astronauts, as longer missions, such as a trip to Mars are considered.

When he lands, he’ll face a battery of tests that will help determine how the human body – and psychology – stands up to that much time outside earth’s atmosphere.

I used d3.js to create this interactive data visualization comprising everyone who has been to space (according to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale definition of space travel).

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s ended his year in space by taping a Benny Hill-inspired video in space, while wearing a gorilla suit. Though he’s no longer an astronaut, Mark Kelly volunteered to take part in NASA’s “Twins Study” with his brother.

Kelly also did experiments.

Immediately after that, he said he already knows what he’ll be doing. Kelly’s exercise regime will continue while additional functional task tests will be conducted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.