Astronaut Scott Kelly Lived 'Adventurous' Life In New Jersey, Prepares For Return Home

Astronaut Scott Kelly is in the final countdown of the One-Year mission on the International Space Station.

Kelly, a New Jersey native from Orange, will return to earth March 1 after spending 340 days on the station. Kelly has served as commander of the station since the mission began. He, along with his twin brother Mark, are the only siblings to have flown into space.

“When I was a kid, I don’t know if it’s particular to New Jersey, but my brother and I had a particular sense of freedom that I think my kids don’t have with what they are allowed to do and venture when they are at a very young age,” Kelly said. “We lived a pretty exciting and adventurous life pretty early on.”

The One-Year mission is designed to help NASA scientists understand how the human body adapts during long-term space flight. Data from the mission will be used to help NASA plan for missions around the moon and, ultimately, to Mars. Information regarding how Kelly’s body adapted to life in space will be compared to similar data gathered from his brother.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll learn a lot about long-duration spaceflight and how that will take us to Mars one day,” Kelly said during a news conference Thursday. “The space station is a magical place. It’s a privilege to fly here and it’s something I hope more people will have the opportunity to have in the future.”

Kelly likened the experience of living on the station to going camping — for an entire year.

“It’s somewhat of a harsh environment. You don’t feel perfectly normal,” Kelly said. “It’s just not normal having no running water. The fact that everything floats makes your daily life more difficult.”

Photo: Scott Kelly corrals the supply of fresh fruit that was brought to the International Space Station. Visiting cargo ships often carry a small cache of fresh food for crew members aboard the International Space Station./Wikimedia Commons