Astronaut Scott Kelly Returns to Earth After a Year in Space

Expedition grants NASA valuable data on effects of space travel.

Gabrielle Kalisz

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Liberal
December 12, 2016

After spending a year in space, Scott Kelly returns to Earth with data on the long term effects of space travel. His arrival on March 2 marked the end of 340 days alone in space.

“I don’t know if I could do it,” senior Stephen Frandsen said. “I would probably go crazy.”

While on his 340-day journey in space, Kelly conducted countless amounts of space related scientific experiments, went on spacewalks, dressed up as a gorilla and even made sure that his Twitter following was completely updated on his journey. Kelly, after his return, is two inches taller and 1/100th of a second younger than he would be if he spent 340 days on earth. NASA is able to compare his condition post-space travel to the condition of Kelly’s identical twin brother, who stayed on the planet. This data and comparison equipped NASA with data on the long term effects of space travel.