The man who lived a year in space

Scott Kelly is NASA's "Astronaut Record": he's put his body to the test for an investigation into the consequences that humans face by spending months with zero gravity and high radiation; on the Earth, at the same time, they were watching their twin

At the exact moment when Apollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969,
Scott Kelly was five years old and slept as deeply as his twin brother, Mark, at his home in New Jersey. His parents came to wake them up and took them to the living room, where a television broadcast black-and-white footage of the feat: Neil Armstrong and company were the first to walk on the natural satellite.

Since then and for years, little Scott he had a recurrent nightmare: that he was attached to the outside of a space rocket about to take off, and he knew that it would not survive at the moment of ignition. "Every time I had this nightmare, I woke up, sweaty and terrified, just before the propellers threw their flames to the sky," says Kelly (52) in her biography
Resistencia: A year in space published at the end of 2017 and now arrives in Argentina, translated into Spanish under the label Debate (Penguin Random House).

For those life's tricks, this child tormented by the memory of one of the key moments in the history of humanity (and which, in addition, had many problems of life). 39, attention to the school and did not stop to scare his parents because he always walked with his brother He ended up taking a new step in the exploration of space : he was the first NASA astronaut to spend a year in space – although, strictly speaking, were 340 days, from March 27, 2015 to March 1, 2016, and it should be noted that the record of The world is not preserved: it has been held since 1995 by the Russian Valery Polyakov, with 438 consecutive days aboard the Mir-space station, but Scott's mission was unique for two reasons. that the main goal was to study everything that happened to the human body for such a long time, with a view to a future expedition to March (with the current technology, it would take about 200 days to reach the red planet. scientists understand how this can impact astronauts). And the second, because his twin Mark, also an astronaut, stayed on Earth and was watched as he was by NASA, to make comparisons of all kinds, including DNA.

In total, the mission included 400 experiments, many of which had the Kelly brothers as guinea pigs, and one of the most striking preliminary results was that Scott's gene expression changed by 7% and rose five centimeters in height because his spine was expanding to zero gravity. Although NASA plans to release the final and complete report by the end of the year, there is already a certainty on which Scott likes to joke: "Because I was in the" space all this time, I've subtracted 13 milliseconds from the aging process that I would have had. "Earth, so now I'm younger than my brother," he said on his return.

Scott was alone for most of the mission on the International Space Station (ISS), with zero gravity and feeding on dehydrated and irradiated food ("boxes of tuna and other things", explains there). His daily tasks consisted of planting lettuce, observing the behavior of a few laboratory mice, repairing the strange fault of the ISS and, most importantly, recording every minimal sensation of his body. "I have not had time to get bored," he says, and although he says that he's not a loner, his style is short and dry when he talks (at least in his phone conversation with LA NACION
magazine ] gives indications that he is not a fan of the conversation either.

With your brother Mark, they share a very special profession. Being an astronaut, is he born or is he made?

In our case, I believe that our personality has been of great help in this work. There are key features we were born with: attraction to challenges and risks, ability to handle stress and responding under pressure. Many of us who end up as astronauts have some innate quality about these things, this is not something we have learned. But with that, I do not mean that it's not something that could be developed. And, without a doubt, the specific skills you must possess to fly in space are not something you are born with, but they are acquired with a lot of effort and practice.

What is the hardest thing to become an astronaut?

The odds of being chosen because there are many talented and skilled people who have the same desire, but there are few opportunities to achieve it. The luck factor plays an important role in all of this, there is a lot of competition. So, the most difficult is to accept that you play with many variables that you do not control.

For the one who has arrived and has a mission far from the Earth, does the greatest challenge go through the intellectual, the physical, the emotional …?

Personally, what has cost me the most to deal with my concern for my family. Not being able to be if something happened to one of them – at least, physically, because from the ISS we can talk by video conference, watch satellite TV and everything it. But being physically far from my partner and my two daughters was the biggest cost to me.

In Resistencia. devote almost as many pages to your daily life at the ISS as you remember your childhood and your youth. What did you want to accomplish with the book?

When I started writing it, I thought it was going to be an astronaut who spends a year in space. But, while I was working on it, I realized that the heart of the story was that boy (that's me) who did badly at school, who could not find the direction of his life, until he read the book that inspired him [N.de la R.: A los 18, encontró un ejemplar de Lo que hay que tener, de Tom Wolfe, sobre cómo la NASA eligió a los astronautas participantes del Proyecto Mercury]. And that led me to change my life in many ways until, finally, it triggered my choice to spend a year in space.

A sinister story, then?

Yes. How can one be a bad student and have a slow start (slow start), but that does not indicate where you can go after if you have perseverance and trust. Everything can be done, as inaccessible as it may seem, if the situation is analyzed and what needs to be done to reach it. It is important not to give up and believe in yourself.

Kelly's book is full of unusual and curious details that no sci-fi movie includes – not even The Martian, with Matt Damon in 2015, whose NASA record says it's was "pretty realistic" -. For example, the fact that before launch, astronauts must apply an enema and put on diapers. Or the huge differences between Russians and Americans before closing. He says: "The director of the Russian Space Agency asks us one after the other, again, if we are ready for our flight, it is almost like getting married, except that every time they ask you something, you answer: Theft "instead of" Yes, I want to "I'm convinced that the Russians would find the American rituals just as weird : before taking off, we would put on our orange jumpsuits and play a game very much. It was a specific poker game in which there was very little money involved. We could not go to the launch pad until the commander lost a hand, thus exhausting all his bad luck of the day, a member of a team did it for the first time and came back alive, so everyone had to do it again. "

But Kelly also speaks and focuses on the points of contact between countries, former exhibitors of the war cold, during which space was one of the main battlegrounds. Today, space exploration (and shipping to Mars as a primary goal) is a global effort. "The ISS is a remarkable achievement, not only of technology, but also of international cooperation, it has been continuously inhabited since November 2, 2000. In other words, over 14 years have passed since humans were on Earth at the same time, it is by far the largest spatial structure that has been inhabited by more than 200 people in 17 countries, it is the largest international project in peacetime of history "says Kelly, with a strong belief on the priority that this should have in politicians, international organizations and, basically, all of humanity.

Do you think you will see our arrival on Mars?

It depends on how long you live, is not it?

Have you seen the launch of Tesla's Elon Musk car last February? What did you think?

Yes, it was great, a great press shot for him.

Why do you think it's important to conquer the red planet?

For many reasons. For example, going into the unknown and exploring, which is an attitude that has always marked the history of mankind. There is a lot to learn. Moreover, as a species, we must continue to grow and expand, and Mars is the next logical destination we can reach. Of course, we must first develop the technology to achieve this.

Do you think there is enough funding for space development?

No, I do not think so. I think we should allocate more money to explore life in the space, because it is an excellent investment. And this is not just a fault of the United States, but of all countries. I do not speak of an unlimited budget, but certainly more than we have today. It's not too bad either, I have to say: NASA's budget is $ 2 billion a year, which is not insignificant.

What is the biggest myth of space exploration?

That the Earth is flat.

And the biggest feat?

Build the ISS. I think it was much more important than going on the moon, especially because it could be achieved through the collaborative effort of the international community.

In the book you mention many rituals, almost acts of superstition, performed by astronauts before being thrown into space. Like, for example, urinating on the wheel before climbing. Why are they important, what does it say about our nature?

They are tradition, and we do it because human beings always repeat the same things. They do not seem important, but they are interesting, and that's why I included them in the book.

You also mention your colleague Samantha Cristoforetti, pointing out that she is the first female astronaut in Italy. What role can women play in this human odyssey?

Very simple: Half of the people on earth are women, so I think half of the astronauts should be women.

Do you feel different from much of humanity for being out of the earth? It's a very transformative experience, say those who have lived through it …

No, I'm an ordinary guy who has had the opportunity to do something about it. ;extraordinary.