Category Archives: Space Travel

When astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth after nearly a year on the International Space Station, he was 2 inches taller than his twin brother, astronaut Mark Kelly. When Scott left for the mission, he and his earthbound brother were the same height.

What happened? Scientists at NASA are poring over the data compiled from the Twins Study, information that benchmarks Scott and Mark Kelly's genomic and physical markers before and after Scott's yearlong mission on the space station.

So far we've learned that being in space for prolonged periods does have an effect on the chromosomes, bone structure and even the content of the culture in an astronaut's gut. Scott's DNA and RNA underwent hundreds of mutations in space that gradually returned to normal once he was back on Earth.

Scott Kelly exhibited declining bone density, but a healing hormone kicked in during his exercise regimen on the space station. Still, his cognitive abilities and muscle dexterity showed signs of having slowed a bit once he returned to Earth.

That will be a factor to consider when astronauts land on Mars after six months traveling through space. Setting up their living environment on the planet will present both physical and mental challenges.

NASA's plans for manned missions to Mars in the 2030s are still in the early stages. The rival civilian space programs that have popped up are shooting for a Mars mission in the early-to-mid-2020s. Whoever gets to Mars first will be better prepared for the challenges of space travel thanks to the Twins Study.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Another Viewpoint: The Kelly twins offer a vital sign for space travel ... - Gainesville Sun

Lacoste may be best known for its presence on the tennis court, but today its designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista chose to honour its founder Ren Lacoste's lesser-known career history working in the aircraft industry during the time of the first transatlantic crossings.

For Baptista, whose father was a pilot, this meant delving into the world of space travel - a place where fantasy meets technology.

Accordingly, the models in this New York Fashion Week show took their turn on a catwalk transformed to resemble the surface of Mars.

High performance fabrics - a signature ingredient in any Lacoste catwalk collection - were propelled to new heights, with high-shine foil nylon coupled with fleece and industrial leather, while the hero of the offering was a series of boilersuits inspired by the uniform of astronauts. Though the result, while futuristic, was far from unattainable.

"I didnt want it to look like a cold, futuristic vision of the future," said Baptista, speaking backstage after the show.

To this end, the Portuguese designer brought the collection back down to earth with a host of natural elements, from the wool and linen lining the inside of reversible waterproof jackets, to the fluid cocoon shapes seen on velour drawstring dresses.

Functionality also remained high on the agenda with multiple patch pockets and roomy backpacks. Bold colour combinations, such as ochre with lilac, were also taken from the landscape of the cosmos, while the iridescent prints of planets were reproductions from the work of space artist Ron Miller.

But Baptistas vision wasnt focused solely on the future, he also took one giant leap into the Nineties seeking further inspiration. Citing legends such as Kurt Cobain among his muses, the designer recast grunge signatures including checked shirts and slouchy mohair cardigans.

"I wanted to explore what was timeless about the nineties," said Baptista. Jumbo cord cargo pants, puffer jackets and hooded cagoules were also among Lacostes future classics.

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Lacoste delves into the world of space travel at New York Fashion ... - Evening Standard

Can traveling through outer space reverse the aging process?

A new study cracks the door open to just that possibility, but Colorado State University professor Susan Bailey says age-conscious adventurers shouldnt boldly go just yet.

A lot of the work is still to be done, she said.

Bailey was among a handful of researchers selected to participate in one of the most ingenious science experiments of our time. In 2015, astronaut Scott Kelly was launched into orbit to spend a year aboard the International Space Station. His identical twin brother, Mark, remained on Earth. Bailey and her colleagues studied how they changed part of a NASA project to figure out how long-term space flight impacts human health in prelude to a possible trip to Mars.

Baileys work, specifically, focused on the Kellys DNA and the critical pieces called telomeres.

What are telomeres? Theyre the little bits of genetic coding that reside on the ends of each chromosome and provide a buffer like tiny DNA bumpers for the more important stuff in the code. As people get older, their telomeres generally shorten, and many researchers believe this shortening contributes to the ways the body breaks down as it ages. As a result, telomere length has become something of an obsession among anti-aging enthusiasts.

Going into the study, Bailey assumed that the stresses of space travel would accelerate the shortening of Scott Kellys telomeres. When she and her colleagues ran the tests, though, they found the opposite occurred. While Scott Kelly was in space, his telomeres actually grew longerwhile Marks remained more or less the same length. When Scottreturned to Earth, his telomeres shrank back to the same length as Marks.

Samples taken from other astronauts appear to confirm the finding that telomeres lengthen in space, Bailey said.

You do the research, and youre always surprised, Bailey said. I couldnt be more surprised by this result.

Cue the headlines proclaiming space flight a fountain of youth.

Except that may not be whats going on.

In any one person, telomere lengths arent always the same they can vary greatly from cell to cell. Bailey said it is possible that the extra-strong radiation that astronauts are exposed to in space might weed out cells with shorter telomeres, leaving only those with long ones and creating the impression that telomere lengths grew.

Perhaps those cells are dying, and that gives you the shift, she said.

Bailey said more research is needed to learn if something about being in space actually builds up telomeres by activating the enzyme, called telomerase, that constructs them. Even if it does, thats not necessarily a good thing, she said, because telomerase activity is also key to cancer cell growth.

If theres something about space flight that is activating telomerase, youve turned on one of the steps toward carcinogenisis, Bailey said.

That means, rather than finding a tidy conclusion, Baileys research has so far turned up mostly questions. All that she knows right now for certain, she said, is that Scott and Mark Kelly were basically the same when Scott left Earth and they returned to being basically the same afterhe landed.

We do need to figure out what was happening in the middle there, she said.

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Did a CSU study find that space travel makes you younger? Not so ... - The Denver Post

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 6:02 p.m. CT Feb. 9, 2017

U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly and former astronaut Mark Kelly.(Photo: USA TODAY)

The following editorial appeared in Monday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, Feb. 6:

When astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth after nearly a year on the International Space Station, he was 2 inches taller than his twin brother, astronaut Mark Kelly. When Scott left for the mission, he and his earthbound brother were the same height.

What happened? Scientists at NASA are poring over the data compiled from the Twins Study, information that benchmarks Scott and Mark Kellys genomic and physical markers before and after Scotts yearlong mission on the space station.

So far weve learned that being in space for prolonged periods does have an effect on the chromosomes, bone structure and even the content of the culture in an astronauts gut. Scotts DNA and RNA underwent hundreds of mutations in space that gradually returned to normal once he was back on Earth.

Scott Kelly exhibited declining bone density, but a healing hormone kicked in during his exercise regimen on the space station. Still, his cognitive abilities and muscle dexterity showed signs of having slowed a bit once he returned to Earth.

That will be a factor to consider when astronauts land on Mars after six months traveling through space. Setting up their living environment on the planet will present both physical and mental challenges.

NASAs plans for manned missions to Mars in the 2030s are still in the early stages. The rival civilian space programs that have popped up are shooting for a Mars mission in the early-to-mid-2020s. Whoever gets to Mars first will be better prepared for the challenges of space travel thanks to the Twins Study.

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Kelly twins offer a vital sign for space travel - San Angelo Standard Times

Dr Shawna Pandya has been leading an interesting life for a while now, but its only recently the citizen scientist has been finding herself in the news. Reports indicate Dr Pandya might be next in line as the third woman of Indian-origin to make her way into space, but things arent exactly as clear as all that. Were going to break it down for you right now.

Dr Shawna Pandya is a 32-year-old general practitioner based in Alberta, Canada. Many reports indicate shes a neurosurgeon, but Dr Pandya herself has stated that, though she trained in neurosurgery for a short period, her medical licence is as a general practitioner. However, medicine isnt her only scientific love, given that she registered for two citizen scientist-astronaut programs (CSA) years ago.

Dr Pandya is part of both Project PoSSUM and the PHEnOM Project, both of which are research projects that dont actually involve going into space. PoSSUM is an acronym for Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere. It involves imaging noctilucent clouds from a high-altitude balloon over Antarctica, as well as later using manned reusable suborbital vehicles to study the fine structures of the clouds during a week-long deployment. And while PoSSUM evolved out of an earlier NASA-funded project to study climate change, its not officially a NASA venture, and instead works in partnership with the Canadian National Research Council.

PHEnOM, on the other hand, stands for Physiological, Health, and Environmental Observations in Microgravity. Its a project by the SeaSpace Exploration & Research Societys SeaSpace Research Institute and focuses on studying the effects of microgravity on humans, including research in biomedical science, pharmacology, and materials science. This project, similar to PoSSUM, is not tied to any space agency like NASA or the ESA, but is instead under the SeaSpace Societys ambit, in the US.

While participants in both these projects are highly qualified individuals in the fields of engineering, research, and medicine, and also receive astronaut training of a sort, the teams never leave Earths gravity entirely. Instead, research is carried out in Earth-bound labs, parabolic aircraft, and eventually commercial suborbital spaceflight vehicles.

Dr Shawna Pandya (L) and crew testing commercial spacesuits in microgravity at the National Research Council. (Ross Lockwood/Facebook)

As you can see once all the information is gathered, Dr Shawna Pandya is a qualified doctor, now a trained citizen scientist-astronaut, and a researcher in her own right. However, this is far from circulating reports that indicate shes joining the ranks of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams. Dr Pandya herself has indicated that, despite being on the CSA team of the PHEnOM Project, theres still no guarantee of her being onboard the flights into upper altitudes, instead of one of her other crew members.

Yet, even if Dr Pandya may not have the chance to really break free from Earths gravity and experience the final frontier, shes still getting closer to it than most us could dream of, and her teams research will greatly benefit those that do have that chance. That in itself is definitely something worthy of pride, so lets not do her a disservice by muddling her contributions.

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Shawna Pandya clears the air on rumours of space travel - Daily News & Analysis

"Since I was a kid, I loved space, I loved the stars. So this kind of is a realisation of a life-long dream," says Shawna Pandya who is set to become the third Indian-origin woman to travel in space. The 32-year-old will undertake the expedition with eight others in 2018.

A neurologist by profession, Pandya works as a general physician at the Alberta University Hospital in Canada. On her expedition, she will be conducting experiments with bio-science and medical science, as well as studying the effects of microgravity on health and physiology. She will also study climate change as a part of the Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere (PoSSUM) project.

The Mumbai-born Canadian doctor is one of the two candidates selected from 32,000 people under the Citizen Science Astronaut programme. "All my junior high science projects or reports, they were all space related ... I think the idea of doing something that's so adventurous and really pushes the bounds of exploration, and the fact that you'd get to space really, really resonated with me," Pandya told CBS.

So, after she earned a B.Sc. in Neuroscience, she went on to do her post graduation in space sciences from the International Space University. She then pursued her MD in Medicine from the University of Alberta.

It isn't just her academic record that impressive. Pandya is an international taekwon-do champion and Hindustan Times reports that she trained with a Navy SEAL in Muay Thai. According to a report in the Indian Express, she is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and has even walked the runway as a model. Add to that her fluency in Russian, French and Spanish.

It seems that space exploration is not the only thing on this brilliant young woman's mind. She is also an integral part of the team preparing to undertake a 100-day underwater mission called Project Poseidon, at the Aquarius Space Research Facility in Florida.

Also on HuffPost India

'Indica: A Deep Natural History Of The Indian Subcontinent' Is More Compelling Than Sci-Fi

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Meet Shawn Pandya, The Third Indian-Origin Woman To Space-Travel - Huffington Post India

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HOUSTON A soccer ball that was inside the Space Shuttle Challenger when it exploded in 1986 is now in space.

During the recovery of the Challenger, a few things survived. One of the items was a soccer ball carried by one of the astronauts and signed by the players form Clear Lake High School in Houston. After it was recovered, it was donated to the high school and has been on display.

Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, whose daughter now attends that same high school, asked if the school would like to send anything into orbit. The soccer ball received a second chance at space flight. Kimbrough launched to the space station in October and just last week posted a photo of the ball in space.

When the ball returns from space, it will go back to Clear Lake High School for a permanent display.

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Piece of tragic shuttle history gets a second chance at space travel - WQAD.com

BBC News

Newspaper review: Heartthrob and space travel in Wednesday's papers BBC News A Hollywood heart throb, icebergs and space travel, are just some of the stories featured in Wednesday's papers. "What I've said so far is only the tip of the iceberg" is the headline in the Belfast Telegraph. The paper has an exclusive interview with ...

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Newspaper review: Heartthrob and space travel in Wednesday's papers - BBC News

When astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth after nearly a year on the International Space Station, he was 2 inches taller than his twin brother, astronaut Mark Kelly. When Scott left for the mission, he and his earthbound brother were the same height.

What happened? Scientists at NASA are poring over the data compiled from the Twins Study, information that benchmarks Scott and Mark Kellys genomic and physical markers before and after Scotts yearlong mission on the space station.

So far weve learned that being in space for prolonged periods does have an effect on the chromosomes, bone structure and even the content of the culture in an astronauts gut. Scotts DNA and RNA underwent hundreds of mutations in space that gradually returned to normal once he was back on Earth.

Scott Kelly exhibited declining bone density, but a healing hormone kicked in during his exercise regimen on the space station. Still, his cognitive abilities and muscle dexterity showed signs of having slowed a bit once he returned to Earth.

That will be a factor to consider when astronauts land on Mars after six months traveling through space. Setting up their living environment on the planet will present both physical and mental challenges.

NASAs plans for manned missions to Mars in the 2030s are still in the early stages. The rival civilian space programs that have popped up are shooting for a Mars mission in the early-to-mid-2020s. Whoever gets to Mars first will be better prepared for the challenges of space travel thanks to the Twins Study.

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Another View: NASA's Twins Study offers vital sign for space travel - Press Herald

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REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. - Following the tornado that struck NASA's Michoud Assembling Facility (MAF), we're told all employees are safe. But the cleanup continues at Michoud.

Mike Kynard, Deputy Director of MAF, said none of the 5 employees who suffered minor injuries were from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal. But a few people from Marshall, who were at Michoud for work, did have problems because of storm damage to their rental cars.

Now, one of the main missions is to get those Marshall employees back home.

"We're working on a process to bring them back here," explained Kynard.

Marshall and Michoud have a very close relationship. MSFC actually manages MAF, and many people travel in between frequently.

"We're all like family," said Kynard. "When we go down there, it's not a separate place, it's a part of Marshall. We're looking out for our people down there."

Marshall is sending some supplies and even employees down to Michoud to assist in the storm's aftermath, including mobile radios from the IT department, a mobile command center they have to deploy when necessary, and some protective services employees.

"The main thing is the people were safe. That was the most important part," said Kynard. "That's the irreplaceable part."

Thankfully, the SLS and Orion hardware at Michoud for manufacture and assembly were not impacted much either.

"I'm pleased to say there's no damage to the hardware," said Kynard. "We did have some debris fall on top of one of the tanks, but it didn't really impact anything."

The realdamage could come in the form of lost time. The facility is shut down right now while crews continue to assess building damage, and it's unclear when it will be ready for employees to come back in and work. It's difficult for Kynard to tell this early on just how much the mission will be affected.

"I think our focus is going to be to bring the facility back up where folks can come in and safely operate," said Kynard. "We'll have to go and assess how much that has impacted the core stage manufacturing, because the core stage is on a critical path for SLS. There is going to be some amount of time we are going to slip, but you never know how you can recover from that. We have some mighty, creative people working on that."

Kynard said he's hopeful the facility's necessary closure won't impact the SLS final launch date, because there still may be some things they can schedule for efficiency to make up for the lost time.

According to a NASA release, Michoud remains closed to all but security and emergency operations crews. Temporary flight restrictions are in place over the area to ensure recovery and operations crews can complete their work without interference from other drones or low-flying aircraft.

The entire NASA family pulls together during good times and bad, and the teams at the Michoud Assembly Facility are working diligently to recover from the severe weather that swept through New Orleans Tuesday and damaged the facility, said acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. We are thankful for the safety of all the NASA employees and workers of onsite tenant organizations, and we are inspired by the resilience of Michoud as we continue to assess the facilitys status.

Approximately 40 to 50 percent of the buildings at Michoud have some kind of damage; about five buildings have some form of severe damage.

We're told the team has prioritized completing the damage assessment at the sites main manufacturing building for the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft flight hardware so power can be restored in phases and temporary protection put in place to shield hardware from any further inclement weather.

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NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center employees safe, returning following Michoud tornado - whnt.com