NASA has long been on a mission to determine the impact of travelling in space on the health of astronauts. The mission will move a step closer as the astronaut Scott Kelly comes back from the International Space Station (ISS) next week after a space trip of 11 months. Scientists from UC San Diego (USCD) revealed these reports. With Scott Kelly on the ISS, his twin brother Mark was here on Earth being monitored by researchers in terms of his health parameters.

Scott’s stay in space has provided the NASA with a unique opportunity to undertake comparison between the health factors of two people who are genetically identical and have been living in completely different environments for a considerably long period of time. Scientists have been monitoring the visual perception, cardiovascular function and other parameters for both the twins.

Blood and urine samples have been collected by Scott Kelly and he will be bringing them back to Earth for specific comparisons by NASA’s Human Research Program, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and 10 other investigative teams across the nation.

According to Brinda Rana, a professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and principal investigator on the UCSD part of the study, the space agency is focused on sustaining the health of astronauts during the missions lasting for a long period of time.

She added that scientists are keen on discovering how the cognition, heart, eye and immune functions of an astronaut are affected by space travel. In addition, the researchers also aim to study the impact on the bacteria living in the gut of which the microbiome and omics profiles are made up of. Genomics, proteomics and metabolomics are also an area of interest.

“Our studies will provide important data on how the space environment impacts the human body at the molecular level so that NASA can identify risk factors and countermeasures for possible health issues induced by prolonged space travel, such as a mission to Mars,” said Rana.