NASA astronaut Scott Kelly returns to Earth March 1 after spending 340 days at the International Space Station. He's part of a study that charts what happens to the human body after a prolonged stay in space. Here are five things you need to know about this year-long experiment:
1) Kelly left on March 27, 2015 for his one-year space mission along with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. Another cosmonaut, Sergey Volkov, joined them at the space station in September for a regular expedition. While Kelly travelled outside of the Earth's atmosphere, his identical twin brother, Mark, remained on ground in NASA to serve as the "genetic control," according to Discovery.
2) Despite being in space, Kelly remained active on social media. He also got to do a Q & A with his followers on Reddit and Facebook where he detailed his experiences in space. His cites the lack of toilet as his worst experience. "I had to clean up a gallon-sized ball of urine mixed with acid," Kelly told his followers. "The acid is added to the urine so the urine doesn't damage the machinery that moves it through the system. It keeps it from clogging up the system."
3) Kelly's photos from outer space, which he posts on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, are popular with netizens. One of these include his final shot before ascending to Earth. It was a breathtaking view of the sunrise.
Rise and shine! My last #sunrise from space then I gotta go! 1 of 5. #GoodMorning from @space_station! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/F1MFo5MwjQ
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) March 1, 2016
4) Kelly, who claims to have no interest in photography before this mission, has since learned to take beautiful photos while in space. "Actually, numbers wise, I don't think I have taken that much compared to other crewmembers we have had up here. But I have definitely taken some good ones and some memorable ones," he said, via Space.
5) Doctors will be giving Kelly an intensive test when he's back on the planet. Among the concerns to his health would be muscle mass and bone density loss, eyesight changes and blood circulation issues, per The Verge. Kelly regularly collected his fluid samples during his mission so that the experts can use and compare these in their tests.
