Scott Kelly discusses his two long-duration spaceflights

Scott Kelly discusses his two long-duration spaceflights.

Scott and Mark are identical twins and have been NASA astronauts. Mark is the husband of Gabrielle Giffords, the former U.S. House member who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.


After his year in space, astronaut Scott Kelly talks tech, rashes, and science deniers
David Pogue, Yahoo Finance
Jan 23 4:29 PM EST

After his year in space, astronaut Scott Kelly talks tech, rashes, and science deniers

excerpt:

"Kelly also told me about the physical effects of returning to Earth after a year without gravity. It wasn’t pretty.

“The experience coming back was different than when I flew for six months,” Kelly says. “It was much more significant: soreness, muscle aches and joint pain, swelling in my legs when I would stand up — I could feel the blood rushing out of the top of my body, down into my legs, could see my leg swollen up.” For weeks after returning, his skin also exhibited rashes and hives wherever it came in contact with cloth — like clothing or bed sheets.

“I was fatigued, nauseous, dizzy — I mean, things that were much different after spending a year in space versus six months. So, at least for me, there’s symptomatically kind of a bend in the curve there somewhere between six and nine months where the negative effects seem to accelerate.” It took eight months, he says, before he felt normal again."