Scott Kelly: ‘I came back from space younger than my twin’
Scott Kelly is a 53-year-old American astronaut and a veteran of four space flights. He retired last year after spending 11 continuous months on the International Space Station. During his time on board the ISS, he orbited the Earth 5,440 times and made three space walks. He was also part of a study with his identical twin and fellow astronaut, Mark Kelly, to examine the genetic effects of spaceflight. As Mark was on Earth and Scott in space, they made for perfect comparative analysis, though it was not the reason Kelly was chosen for the mission. He has just published a memoir, Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery.
What do you think has been the most important achievement of manned space travel?
I think it's how it accelerates our development of technology, whether its telecommunications, computer power, the ability to put satellites into orbit. I think we'd live in a much different world if we didn't fly in space.