Scott Kelly, the astronaut who embarked on a nearly 12-month long mission to space in March, will have been away for twice as long as the typical U.S. mission by the time he returns next year.
The special mission will help scientists understand what happens to the human body over an extended period in microgravity. Six months into his trip, NASA has provided a handy infographic detailing a few of the strange, amazing things Kelly's body will experience during his 342 days living and researching with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko at the International Space Station.
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Though he will have to exercise for more than 700 hours total over the year to make sure that his bones, muscles and heart stay strong, he does get the trade-off of getting to see 10,944 sunrises and sunsets while we only get a measly 684 in our year on Earth. That's because the ISS orbits the earth every 90 minutes, meaning its inhabitants experience an astonishing 32 sunrises and sunsets per earth day. (Not that they're glued to the windows for every one, but you get the picture.)
He'll also produce about 180 pounds of feces that will burn off in the atmosphere and look like shooting stars. He will be drinking 730 liters of recycled urine, blood and sweat -- Whether or not that's worth shooting-star-poop is a question we'll have to ask Kelly when he returns.
On Tuesday, Kelly and Kornienko celebrated the halfway point of their journey and NASA tweeted to congratulate them.
Today's the halfway point for the #YearInSpace mission on @Space_Station. Why is it important? http://t.co/9VRLY1VMFb pic.twitter.com/dI4x7pDcHh— NASA (@NASA) September 15, 2015
Kelly is in a unique position as far as the experiment is concerned: His identical twin, Mark, remains on earth for the duration of the mission. Since their genetic makeup is so similar, scientists will be able to compare their bodies after Scott's year in space, providing vital information for future, longer missions like Mars exploration.
Kelly has taken President Obama's advice to Instagram his adventure. He's been documenting his mission consistently, and on Tuesday shared a photo from his travels to mark his six months in space:
Today marks the midway point of my #YearInSpace! #ThankYou for your follows, waves, support & company along the way. #gratitude #space #spacestation #ISS #JourneytoMars #NASA A photo posted by Scott Kelly (@stationcdrkelly) on Sep 15, 2015 at 9:46am PDT
If that's the halfway point, we can't wait to see what the finish line looks like.
