Astronaut Scott Kelly Now Has Different DNA Than His Identical Twin Brother After One Year In Space

CBS Local — Astronaut Scott Kelly set a record for the longest single spaceflight in history and now NASA is saying the trip made him a “new man” as well. A study of Kelly and his identical twin brother found that spending nearly a year in space significantly changed the astronaut’s DNA.

Kelly spent 340 straight days aboard the International Space Station from 2015 to 2016. When the NASA veteran returned to Earth, researchers immediately noted that he had grown two inches in height. A new study comparing Scott to his identical twin, Mark — who is also a NASA astronaut and stayed on Earth during the 340-day trip — has revealed that long-term space travel alters more than just your height.

u mean theres hope for the wretched?

This man has suffered incredible debilitating conditions from his days in space. Read more about what he went through after he came back to earth. I'm sure the high levels of carbon dioxide on the ISS (something he complained about to NASA regularly but was never fixed in his time there) is just one thing he endured and I'm sure the body did too. But his blood vessels, muscles, bone density, atrophy - it's stuff a normal person wouldn't even imagine happening. The DNA change is just the newest story. They'll be studying him and the results for decades to come.

no disrespect intended but

Like I've always said, Star Trek & Star Wars has fooled us into thinking that manned space travel (to Mars and the outer solar system) is like flying in a plane on Earth. Outer space is no joke.....the combination of space radiation & zero gravity is nothing to fuck around with. It may take 100 years before science can come up with proper shielding to protect humans those dangers.

Uh, I'll leave space travel to these guys...

[Edited 3/15/18 17:46pm]

EmmaMcG said:

Well that's my holiday plans gone out the window.