ISS year long mission

Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko

The Year Long Mission on the International Space Station is a scientific research project that studies the health effects of long term spaceflight. Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko spent 342 days in space, with scientists performing medical experiments. Kelly and Kornienko departed in March 2015 on Soyuz TMA-16M along with Gennady Padalka. The mission encompasses Expeditions 43, 44, 45 and currently, 46.

The pair safely landed in Kazakhstan on March 2, 2016, returning aboard Soyuz TMA-18M with Sergey Volkov.

History

Mark and Scott Kelly are identical twins, and will be studied for changes in their health, comparing a body in space to a body on earth

In November 2012, NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and their international partners selected two veteran spacefarers for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station in 2015. The mission includes collecting scientific data important to future human exploration of the Solar System. Kelly and Korniyenko already had a connection; Kelly was a backup crew member for the station's Expedition 23/24 crews, where Korniyenko served as a flight engineer.

Patch for the yearlong mission

The goal aboard the orbiting laboratory is to understand better how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Data from the 12 months will help inform current assessments of crew performance and health and will determine better and validate countermeasures to reduce the risks associated with future exploration as NASA plans for missions around the Moon, asteroids and ultimately Mars.

Health studies

See also: Effect of spaceflight on the human body

The International Space Station has developed exercise equipment, including treadmills and resistance devices to limit muscle atrophy in a low gravity environment. Weightlessness causes body fluids in astronauts to accumulate in the upper half of the body, leading to facial edema and unwelcome side effects. Studies on astronauts have suggested that weightlessness leads to vision problems due to increased intracranial pressure changing the shape of the eyeball.

Psychological studies

See also: Psychological and sociological effects of space flight

The study will also require the astronauts to keep a journal, and will study the psychological effects of living in a confined space for an extended length of time. Kornienko said of his experiences on Expedition 23/24: "The thing you miss there most of all is the Earth itself, I missed smells. I missed trees, I even dreamt of them. I even hallucinated. I thought I smelled a real fire and something being barbecued on it! I ended up putting pictures of trees on the walls to cheer up. You do miss the Earth there."

Scott stated that he missed feeling changes in the weather while on the ISS.

History

See also: List of spaceflight records § Duration of spaceflight

Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov spent 365 days in space on Mir from December 1987 to December 1988.

Sergei Avdeyev spent 379 days on Mir in 1999 and Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days on Mir in 1995. Prior to the Year Long Mission, the longest mission on the ISS was 215 days, by Mikhail Tyurin and Michael López-Alegría. Samantha Cristoforetti holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 199.7 days.

See also

• Scientific research on the International Space Station