A Year in Space

Guests: Scott Kelly, NASA Astronaut, Engineer and a Retired U.S. Navy Captain; Mark Kelly, Brother to Scott Kelly, Twins Study participant and Former NASA Astronaut; Julie Robinson, International Space Station Program Chief Scientist; John Charles, Human Research Program Associate Manager for International Space  An astronaut named Scott Kelly just returned from the International Space Station where he broke the record for the most consecutive days spent in space by an American. He was there for nearly an entire year – 340 days –acting, essentially, as a human guinea pig. NASA hopes in the next decade or two that astronauts will be going to Mars, which will be a round trip of up to three years. We have no idea what being in zero gravity and confined to close quarters with the same few people for such a long time will do to humans – psychologically or physically. Scott Kelly’s year in space was a step toward answering those questions.