The US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will from today at 19h42 Lisbon, to the International Space Station, where they will remain a full year. This unprecedented feat – a mission that will last 2 times more than usual -. To test the resistance of the human body in space for long periods ,, which can help prepare longer space flights, such as
Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko follow aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which will take off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, sooner. With the duo will also another Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who will return, however, to Earth after 6 months.
Kelly , Kornienko and Padalka will join three other colleagues who are on the space station since November, including astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, the first Italian woman who traveled into space. Most expeditions to the International Space Station lasts 4-6 months.
With this mission, a new collaboration between the US space agency NASA and Russian Roscosmos, scientists hope to better understand how the body Human responds and adapts the space for a long period of time. The expedition is key when it intends to take the man to Mars, a journey that will last more than a year
According to NASA, long exposure to a zero gravity environment can affect, in many ways, the human body, especially elicit changes in vision, muscle atrophy and bone loss. For the US space agency, human psychology is also an important area of research, since the astronauts will move, the space station in confined spaces and be isolated from the rest of the people.
While Scott Kelly is in orbit, his twin brother, Mark Kelly, who was also NASA astronaut, will participate in comparative genetic studies. (You can see the two brothers in this picture.)
The tests will help experts to identify best any change in the human body resulting from long exposure to zero gravity.
(AP)
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