Met twin brother astronauts yesterday - Mark and Scott Kelly

[Becky]

We met Mark and Scott Kelly yesterday at a lecture in Pontefract - what an interesting pair! They are twin brothers, and both became astronauts. Mark Kelly has commanded the Space Shuttle, and his brother Scott has commanded the International Space Station (ISS) - most recently he was in the news after having spent a year in space.

The year in space thing was interesting to hear about - both Scott (in space) and Mark (on Earth) were studied to observe the effects that long periods of time in microgravity have on the body. Scott said that he lost bone density, but it was the same amount as he had lost during a previous shorter mission on the ISS - so it looks like bone density does not continually decline whilst in microgravity.

The thing that really struck me about both of them though was that neither of them were naturally the best at what they did - Scott didn't do well at school, and Mark wasn't the best pilot. But both of them persisted and put in as much effort as they could to improve and achieve their goals - inspirational stuff indeed

If you're interested, you can read more here:

https://www.nasa.gov/twins-study
https://space-lectures.com/

 

[TriplexDread]

I bet that was ace.

 

[Becky]

Yep! I've met a few astronauts now, and they all seem to be fascinating people. I admire their attitude - you can kind of sum it up with "make yourself exceptional". They're all so driven and have achieved so much, but often from humble beginnings.

Plus the whole concept of space travel fascinates me

If you're interested, you can keep an eye on upcoming appearances in the UK here:

http://www.collectspace.com/sightings/sightings-unitedkingdom.html

 

[floppybootstomp]

Inspirational indeed. I'd never heard of them, should I add this to the 'I learned today' thread?