They have been a year in space. What bring us? – Observer

This story has not unknown planets or supernatural phenomena. Nor has yellow letters with the music of The Star Wars in the background. And much less explosions or green monsters. But it has heroes. His adventures have just started less than a year, when NASA called “off the year in space begins now: Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko are already underway on the International Space Station.”

It all started to 19h42 (Lisbon time) on 27 March 2015. night had fallen in Baikonur cosmodrome, but the Soyuz TMA-16M mission was nose pointed to the sky. Already much history had been written on the first base world’s rocket launch: that city of Kazakhstan had already left the first artificial Earth satellite – the Sputnik-1, in October 1957; and the first man to travel into space – Yuri Gagarin in April 1962. That night, the protagonists were others: the astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko were launched for a stay of one year in space, the longest being human beyond Earth. This Tuesday, the adventure comes to an end.

Expedition 43, consisting of Mikhail Kornienko, Scott Kelly and Gennady Padalka aboard the mission Soyuz TMA-16M credit: NASA / Bill Ingalls

over the past 340 days, Scott Kelly took -In a new look at the Earth in social networks, showing the setting of the sun as seen from above, huge storms in the United States, the islands of French Polynesia “are as remote as beautiful.” At the same time, down here, a team of American experts and Russian attempt, analyzing it, answer a question: what happens to the human body when it is so long in space? A question that seems out of another movie starring Matt Damon somewhere on Mars … and that actually has more in common with him than it seems: to study the effects of space on Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko will predict what may happen the team of astronauts that one day you first arrive to the red planet.

scientists know, for example, that the eye of an astronaut format changes when it stays for long periods of time in space However, this effect was studied for only a temporal window of six months. Body fluids also change when exposed to microgravity and this may affect intracranial pressure. Another concern of NASA is related to the immune system: the space agency is not sure to what extent the astronauts are most vulnerable to atherosclerosis, inflammation of the blood vessels that can block. But they know that exposure to microgravity, to radiation and the isolation and stress contexts bring consequences that need to be circumvented. “The immune system may be adversely affected by many factors associated with flight. The own microgravity can directly inhibit the functioning of immune cell, “said immunologist Brian Crucian a 2014 video.

astronaut Scott Kelly on a Soyuz mission. Credits: NASA

The monitoring of these issues will be possible thanks to three strategies outlined by NASA. The first requires two astronauts to maintain an exercise that is useful for psychiatrists to study their mental health: Scott Kelly, for example, chose to keep a journal that sends the team of NASA and where reports the daily life of those who spend almost a year with the feet out of the blue planet. Alongside this diary daily use social networks, including Twitter and Instagram, which not only serve to give us to know up there, but also as an analysis of the psychological state of the US. The second strategy includes exercise:. Microgravity may atrophy muscles and contribute to weight loss in the bones, so two studies will try to find new ways to protect the body from two scientists

This is the third strategy that raises the most public attention. Here on Earth is a third astronaut an eye on NASA’s Mark Kelly, the twin brother of Scott. Through analyzes and tests that Scott has done aboard the International Space Station, scientists will be able to compare the changes that exist between two genetically identical human exposed to very different conditions. From the point of view of physics, this is a phenomenon that had already been provided by the Paradox of the Twins, created from the theory of relativity, which says that due to time dilation, a man traveling in space back over again home than his twin brother to stay on Earth. This is theoretically true because for the astronaut in the space station time will pass 3 milliseconds slower than for his brother. What Mark Scotty explained to The Guardian is that “the time will pass more slowly for Scott because he will be traveling to a higher relative speed than me.”

Scott Kelly (the esqueda) with Mark brother, right. Credits: Bill Ingalls / NASA via Getty Images

But there is more: is Scott Kelly can simultaneously back younger and older than Mark brother, it is proved that cosmic rays influence in the genetic material. According to some scientists, these rays can reduce life expectancy by accelerating the degradation of telomeres which are parts of chromosomes responsible for maintaining its stability. Chromosomes have a format X and telomeres are at their ends. In addition to maintaining the structure of the DNA sequence can (no certainty) be involved in the aging process are shortened because each time that the cells replicate DNA and is copied to the new cell. That is, although younger age, Scott may be older physically speaking.

experience, at least, will be. Over a year, Scott Kelly gave birth to a flower in space and eat a lettuce planted on high. Not all men can be proud of having put (more?) Life beyond Earth. That’s why the astronaut 51 years admitted to CNN that will have cubicle miss where he lived “as if you were camping, but with more hygiene”: “I have flown in space four times, so it will be difficult (…). I’ve been right here a long time and sometimes when I think about it, I feel I have lived all my life up here, “said Scott Kelly.

There is much to do down here, because the adventure space ends, but it is on earth that develops the sequel. After a year to swim in a vacuum, Scott Kelly will have to re-adapt to gravity, train motor functions, regain orientation. First of all this there is a moment of tension. In three and a half hours, the two astronauts will have to leave the International Space Station and face the burning temperature of the capsule that will take them through the earth’s atmosphere, more than 850 km / h. After the speed decreases smoothly to achieve 5.5 km / h, even before landing. “When you look at the huge gap between us and the speed involved, it becomes a very serious matter (…) but we will be ready next Tuesday”.

Who spent a year following the Scott Kelly adventure in space will miss the magnificent images that the astronaut left on social networks. The Observer has collected some of the most impressive. See them in the photo gallery and record the end of the longest manned mission in the world -. And then see how it is only a start