A Year In Space

  • Released Thursday, March 17, 2016

More than 200 people have at one time called the International Space Station home. But no U.S. astronaut has spent more consecutive days in low-Earth orbit aboard the floating, football-field-size laboratory than Scott Kelly. In March 2015, he began a 340-day mission aimed at exploring the effects of long-term spaceflight on human health. Living in space can take a huge toll on the body and mind. Understanding the consequences of being stuck in a microgravity environment for months on end is critical for NASA getting astronauts to places like Mars and back safely. When Kelly wasn’t collecting blood and saliva samples or conducting experiments, he spent some of his downtime documenting what he saw out the space station’s windows with a digital SLR camera. He took hundreds of photos over the course of more than 5,000 trips around the planet, capturing stunning shots of glowing auroras, city lights at night, and starry views of the Milky Way. Explore the images to see some of Kelly’s best pictures from space.

Day 114 — Shining orbs: The moon, Venus, and Jupiter line up in a row above Earth's limb.

Day 114 — Shining orbs: The moon, Venus, and Jupiter line up in a row above Earth's limb.

Day 135 — Dark clouds of interstellar dust dim the central glow of our Milky Way galaxy.

Day 135 — Dark clouds of interstellar dust dim the central glow of our Milky Way galaxy.

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Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Images courtesy of NASA/S. Kelly

Release date

This page was originally published on Thursday, March 17, 2016.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:48 PM EDT.