NASA begins experiment in space: one of the twins will spend one year on the ISS

On March 27, a new team will depart for the International Space Station. It will consist of cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Kornienko and astronaut Scott Kelly. Besides the fact that Kornienko and Kelly will spend an entire year in orbit, NASA is launching the scientific research biological program NASA Twin Study . It became possible because the identical twin of the astronaut Scott Kelly - his brother Mark - remains on Earth.

The NASA Twin Study program involves the study of the effects on the human body of the conditions of long-term stay in space. The Kelly brothers are perfect for biological research programs. Mark and Scott, like identical twins, have identical genes. This makes it extremely convenient to compare how a long-term space flight will affect a person, since there will be an “intact” instance of similar DNA on Earth.

Mark Kelly is also an astronaut, like his brother. During his missions, he spent a total of 54 days in space. The record of his brother Scott is more solid - in his standings 170 days, to which will soon be added another year. The participation of two people in the research program, who understand the essence of the work and what both of them will have to face, one of the leaders of NASA, Dr. Craig Kundrot, calls "a good chance in life."
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Last October, in preparation for the mission, an automatic truck was sent to the ISS, which a few seconds later, exploded. Rescuers, exploring the area of ​​the fall of the device, found a stripe, designed for the shape of Scott Kelly, and returned it to the astronaut.



In the new mission, Scott intends to go in the form, which will be used just that, already visited in an unsuccessful flight, patch. He jokes, arguing about the chances that she can again survive the rocket explosion.

During the study of both twins planned to consider a number of issues. One of them is associated with the premature aging of astronauts during long missions due to the influence of cosmic radiation. Scientists on Earth want to compare the length of the telomeres of the Kelly brothers, and if it turns out that they are shorter than those of Scott, then this may be an indication that the astronauts' organism is really aging prematurely. In addition, they want to put a number of experiments on psychology and microbiology.