NASA’s year-long spaceman Scott Kelly took a long-anticipated plunge on Thursday, jumping into his backyard pool, astronaut outfit and all.
“Oh, man, that feels good,” Kelly said as he floated to the surface.
After nearly a year of space sponge baths, Kelly did not even take time to change out of his blue flight suit. He walked right up to the edge of the pool, tilted sideways and fell in. It was still dark outside early on Thursday morning in Houston — he had been yearning for this moment throughout his US-record-setting mission.
A video of his plunge was posted to his Twitter account on Thursday, a day after his return from the International Space Station.
“There’s no place like home,” he tweeted.
Kelly — looking and acting remarkably hearty after 340 days in space — was reunited with his family earlier in the morning in Houston after a flight from Kazakhstan, where his mission ended.
Kelly’s girlfriend, Johnson Space Center public affairs representative Amiko Kauderer, and his two daughters, ages 20 and 12, rushed into his arms after he exited the NASA jet. His identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and their father were next to greet him. Also welcoming him home: Mark’s wife, former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
This last leg of his journey, by plane, took a whole day because of weather delays. So it was in the wee hours — 27 hours after returning to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule — when Kelly finally got to Houston’s Ellington Airport near Johnson Space Center.
“I’m used to going 17,500mph [28,164kph], but this airplane doesn’t do quite that,” Scott Kelly joked at a brief welcoming ceremony attended by Jill Biden, wife of US Vice President Joe Biden.
She brought him a gift of beer from US President Barack Obama and some apple pie.
“Nothing’s more American than that,” she said.
Scott Kelly said that when he left Houston in February last year, he was still 50.
Now he is 52, thanks to his Feb. 21 birthday.
“It was a very long trip, but it feels great. It’s great to be back in Texas on US Soil,” he said.
Before he could go home to his own bed — and his own pool — Scott Kelly had to detour to Johnson to endure more medical tests to measure his body’s adaptation to gravity.
The main reason for the long trip — double the usual station stint — was so NASA could gather data that would keep future Mars explorers healthy and happy during the 2.5-year expeditions planned for the 2030s and beyond. His brother took part in many of the studies as a ground control and unprecedented genetic double.
The Russian cosmonaut with whom Kelly spent the year in space — Mikhail Kornienko — is undergoing his own medical checkups back home in Star City, Russia.
The Russians hold the world record for days in space — 438 — set back in the mid-1990s at the former Mir space station.
Next up for Scott Kelly: a news conference at Johnson yesterday and a continuing series of tests, expected to last for months and possibly a year.
Ditto for his brother.
“After 340 days off the planet and 5,400 times around it, it’s good to have you home, @StationCDRKelly,” Mark proudly tweeted.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese