Scott Kelly, a former shuttle pilot and space station commander, is heading back to the orbital outpost, this time for an experimental, year-long stint. <\/p>\n
The 48-year-old Navy pilot and identical twin brother of former astronaut Mark Kelly, will be joined by veteran cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, for a planned 12-month mission beginning Spring 2015, NASA announced Monday. <\/p>\n
PHOTOS: An Awe-Inspiring Space Station Odyssey <\/p>\n
NASA and its partners in the International Space Station are interested in learning more about how the human body fares during long-duration stays in space. Typically, crews spend four- to six months living aboard the station, which orbits about 250 miles above Earth. <\/p>\n
The U.S. space agency is beginning to work on a spaceship and rocket to carry astronauts farther into space, eventually working up to a human mission to Mars in the 2030s. <\/p>\n
NASA wants the data from a 12-month station mission to assess crew performance and health and to test what countermeasures best cut the risks for future long-duration stays in space. Currently, a mission to Mars would take about 18 months of travel time, plus whatever time the astronauts spend orbiting the planet or on its surface. <\/p>\n
PHOTOS: Space Station Astronauts Log One Million Photos <\/p>\n
The current U.S. record-holder for the longest stay in space is former astronaut and space station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, who spent 215 days in orbit between September 2006 and April 2007. <\/p>\n
The Russians, who previously operated their own space station called Mir, are the world champs when it comes to long-duration spaceflight. The endurance record is held by Valery Polyakov, a doctor, who lived off-planet for 438 days. <\/p>\n
Kelly and Kornienko, 52, have already met. Kelly served as a backup crew member for the station's Expedition 23 and 24 crews, which included Kornienko, a flight engineer. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Continued here:<\/p>\n
Astronaut, Cosmonaut to Spend Year in Space<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scott Kelly, a former shuttle pilot and space station commander, is heading back to the orbital outpost, this time for an experimental, year-long stint. The 48-year-old Navy pilot and identical twin brother of former astronaut Mark Kelly, will be joined by veteran cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, for a planned 12-month mission beginning Spring 2015, NASA announced Monday. Continue reading