When astronaut Scott
Kelly arrived in Houston on Thursday morning, he was about two inches taller
than when he left for the International Space Station a year before, according
to NASA representatives. That's pretty normal for an astronaut: Without the full
strength of gravity pressing down on gel-filled discs between the vertebrae,
they expand and lengthen the spine. It's a weird but temporary side effect of
spaceflight.
But even if Kelly hadn't had his vitals checked immediately upon landing, he might have noticed the slight height change: One of the first Earthlings he saw was his identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly - a man now notably, if only temporarily, shorter.
But even if Kelly hadn't had his vitals checked immediately upon landing, he might have noticed the slight height change: One of the first Earthlings he saw was his identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly - a man now notably, if only temporarily, shorter.
NASA scientists already knew that Kelly would walk a little taller when
he emerged from the Soyuz capsule. But he'll have changed in other, less
obvious ways, too - and that's the whole point of his record-breaking mission.
Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko spent 342 days on the ISS to help
scientists measure the effects of long-term spaceflight on the human body.