NASA is launching a first-of-its-kind study of identical twins to learn more about how long-term spaceflight affects the human body – by sending one into space for a year and leaving the other on Earth.
“Because they’re identical twins, we might be able to see things we ordinarily might not be able to detect if we were just taking two people out of the population,” Dr. Craig Kundrot, deputy chief scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program, told Business Insider.
In March 2015, astronaut Scott Kelly will begin a yearlong stay aboard the International Space Station, a duration longer than any person before him and double the standard duration. Scott’s identical twin brother, astronaut Mark Kelly, will remain on Earth during that time, allowing scientists to closely compare their two bodies.
Scientists will conduct tests and measurements of both Kelly brothers before, during, and after the 2015 mission. Since twins are more genetically alike than any other pair of humans, Mark can serve as a control in this experiment by remaining on Earth.
Read the full, original story: These Twin Astronauts Could Unlock The Mystery Of How Space Affects The Human Body