Astronaut to spend one year in space

Story highlights Astronaut Scott Kelly to live in space one year Kelly's twin brother, Mark, will take part in a "twins study" from the ground

A year is a long time to stay anyplace. But staying a year in space has some special challenges.

There's what to pack: How many changes of clothes do you bring?

Kelly says NASA supplies most of what he needs but he's taking his own tool pouch, some sweatshirts and special shoes to use when he's lifting weights.

"I bought a special kind of shoes I thought would be better for that," Kelly said at a NASA briefing on Thursday.

Then there's what to do for a year in space. You get a great view of Earth, so the scenery is amazing. But the space station orbits Earth about every 90 minutes, or about 16 times a day. Could get a little repetitive. So how do you keep from getting bored?

Experiments. Lots and lots of experiments. NASA says space station crews normally work on about 200 experiments over six months, but Kelly will be doing many more. He says he's actually fascinated with the space station itself as a giant experiment in living in space.

"Building this facility that allows us to understand how to operate for long periods of time in space to allow us someday to go to Mars."

In his free time Kelly says he'll spend a lot of time talking to people on Earth, messaging on social media, reading email, watching TV and writing.

"I'm going to keep a personal journal of the experience," Kelly said. He also will share some of his journal with researchers studying the psychological impacts of long-term space flight. Will he tell all?

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Astronaut to spend one year in space