Introduction
You face high-stress environments where physical hazards and psychological isolation threaten your daily survival and long-term focus.
Surviving an unprecedented year in microgravity requires rigid discipline, extreme mental resilience, and absolute trust in international cooperation.
Scott Kelly details this struggle through his historic one-year mission on the International Space Station and parallel twin studies with his brother. You will traverse his journey from unmotivated student to naval aviator, space shuttle commander, and record-breaking orbital resident.
You will discover answers to the following questions:
- How do you maintain psychological stability during prolonged isolation?
- What physical toll does microgravity exact on the human body?
- How do space agencies manage catastrophic supply losses and life-support failures?
1. Preparation and Launch
Spaceflight operations are deeply shaped by rigid rituals that provide psychological comfort in a life-threatening profession.
You prepare for a historic mission at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a site originally established under deceptive naming conventions during the Cold War. The Soviet space program built the launch site in a village called Tyuratam but named it Baikonur after a town several hundred miles away for subterfuge. The Soviets also referred to their launch facility as Star City to further confuse the United States.
International crew compositions unite former Cold War rivals to operate shared space infrastructure. Crews consist of multi-national astronauts and cosmonauts flying on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station, transforming former enemies into collaborative crewmates. Scott Kelly flies alongside Russian commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Mikhail Kornienko in a Tupolev 134 transport plane to Baikonur.
Extending space missions to a full year ventures into largely unknown physiological territory. While standard space station missions last five to six months, scientists lack comprehensive data regarding how the human body reacts beyond month six, creating unknown risks of severe symptom progression. Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko prepare for an unprecedented one-year mission on the International Space Station while Kelly's identical twin brother Mark participates in parallel genetic studies on Earth.
Long-duration spaceflight imposes severe physical tolls and long-term health hazards on the human body. Astronauts experience bone mass loss, muscle atrophy, blood redistribution that strains and shrinks the heart walls, vision problems, and elevated lifetime risks of fatal cancer from cosmic radiation. On a previous 159-day mission, Kelly experienced vision problems, bone loss, and severe radiation exposure.
You must follow strict steps before launch:
- Undergo a preflight enema ritual to clean out the digestive system.
- Get wiped down entirely with alcohol wipes by the flight surgeon.
- Sit in silence for a minute after a champagne toast.
- Receive a blessing and have holy water thrown into the face by a Russian Orthodox priest.
- Stop on the way to the launchpad to urinate on the right rear tire of the bus.
Gennady Padalka stands at semi-attention to formally state in Russian that the crew is ready for the next steps of preparation upon landing in Baikonur.
Rescue spacesuits prioritize survival utility over comfort using surprisingly low-tech seals. The Sokol pressure suits function purely as a rescue suit to save crew members in case of depressurization or fire, utilizing simple rubber bands to gather and secure the suit's chest opening fabric. Technicians seal the Sokol suits by gathering the edges of the fabric and securing them with the exact same rubber bands the Russians use to seal garbage bags in space, following a mandate implemented after a 1971 depressurization accident killed three cosmonauts.
Russian launch engineering relies on horizontal assembly methods contrasted with American vertical rollouts. Unlike American vehicles assembled vertically and moved on massive crawlers, the Soyuz-FG rocket and spacecraft are assembled horizontally in a hangar and rolled out on their sides before being raised vertically at the launchpad on the Gagarinsky Start. In Building 254 and site 112, Kelly inspects the gunmetal gray 162-foot-long rocket lying on its side before launch preparations.
The International Space Station stands as the largest peacetime international collaboration in human history. Originating from President Reagan's 1984 proposal for a space station named Freedom and later merged with the Russian Mir-2 project, the ISS ultimately united fifteen countries through over one hundred launches and spacewalks. The station has been inhabited continuously since November 2, 2000, marking a streak where humans have continuously lived off Earth for over fourteen years, hosting two hundred people from sixteen nations.
2. Early Life and Arrival at the Station
Encountering powerful literary works and enduring rigorous childhood challenges shape an unmotivated individual into a disciplined military aviator.
Growing up in West Orange, New Jersey, you might engage in reckless behavior like Scott and his twin brother Mark. A defining moment occurred when their mother instructed them to mail a letter by crossing only at the corner. Scott followed instructions and was safe, while Mark cut across the middle of the street and was struck by a car.
Mark was hit by a car after refusing to walk to the designated corner, resulting in an ambulance ride and hospitalization. Scott followed the prescribed route and remained unharmed.
When Scott's mother decided to join the police force in the 1970s, she faced a demanding physical fitness test. Her husband helped her build a backyard obstacle course, including a practice wall slightly higher than the official 7-foot-4-inch requirement.
Scott's father built a practice wall higher than the real test wall. After weeks of daily attempts involving running with weighted toolboxes and scaling the barrier, she passed the physical test better than most male candidates.
Struggling academically and suffering from poor concentration, Scott read Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff as a freshman at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The visceral power of the prose inspired him to pursue naval aviation and overcome his terrible grades.
You launch into orbit inside a cramped Soyuz capsule atop 280 tons of explosive propellant. During the launch with Gennady and Misha, the second-stage rockets fired for three minutes under 3 times the Earth's gravity, followed by staging and the abrupt silence of main engine cutoff, known as MECO.
Gennady and Scott faced a tense moment when the docking probe gave no indication of deployment, threatening their ability to dock with the ISS. A software mode change revealed the probe was actually deployed and normal automated functions resumed.
After opening the hatch and greeting Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov, and Samantha Cristoforetti, Scott noticed the characteristic smell of space resembling burnt metal and familiarized himself with the Waste and Hygiene Compartment, also known as WHC.
You must complete mandatory mission requirements upon arrival:
- conduct thorough leak checks on the docking interface before opening the hatch;
- review emergency briefs covering fire, ammonia leaks, and depressurization on day one;
- manage resources such as lighting and consumables carefully during long-duration stays.
You will have to fall asleep 340 times during your year-long mission. A total of 13 other people will come and go over the course of the year.
3. Developing Discipline and Station Architecture
Aiming for maximum performance and working through every single obstacle provides the necessary drive to overcome poor foundational skills.
Inspired by The Right Stuff, you might decide you want to become a Navy pilot and astronaut. Despite a poor academic record and lacking basic knowledge in calculus and physics, your intense motivation forces you to stay seated and master difficult material through sheer persistence. An admissions dean at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point might reject you due to terrible high school grades and low SAT scores, forcing you to find alternative paths like SUNY Maritime.
Faced with a calculus exam, you might want to go to a party, but your twin brother Mark can sternly advise you to spend the entire long weekend at your desk working through every problem in every chapter until fully mastered.
To tackle difficult subjects successfully, follow these steps:
- stay at your desk for the entire weekend;
- work every problem in every chapter the exam covers;
- continue practicing until you can do all problems correctly.
Following your brother Mark's advice, you can stay in all weekend to study calculus and subsequently earn a circled red 100 on your exam, scoring a perfect grade on a math test for the first time in your life. You discover that shooting for an A+ rather than a B makes studying simpler because aiming for mediocrity requires precise targeting like threading a needle, whereas striving for excellence provides a much broader set of goalposts.
As a student at SUNY Maritime, you undergo a rigorous two-week indoctrination program and participate in training cruises aboard the Empire State V, learning navigation, meteorology, firefighting, and ship maintenance. During a summer cruise aboard the Empire State V, you visit ports in Majorca, Spain, Hamburg, Germany, and Southampton, England, while working on a rotating work cycle consisting of one day maintaining the ship, one day standing watch, and one day attending classes. You also commit to a minimum of 5 years of military service required in exchange for a Navy ROTC scholarship.
Living on the International Space Station feels like inhabiting a complex multi-room structure rather than a singular object, requiring constant adaptation to weightlessness. The station consists of 7 new modules added between your first mission and your current one, including interconnected American, Russian, European, and Japanese modules. In microgravity, your human inner ear disorients body positioning upon waking, and items regularly drift away unless secured.
You spend much of your time in the U.S. laboratory module named Destiny, utilizing handrails on walls, floors, and ceilings to propel yourself and anchor your body while working. Mission Control schedules your daily life using a program called OSTPV in 5-minute increments, often overestimating how quickly tasks like hardware repairs can be completed. Delays compress meal times, exercise periods, pre-sleep time, or sleep.
Private companies like SpaceX provide vital resupply capabilities using the Dragon spacecraft, which can return to Earth intact following the 2011 retirement of the space shuttle. These missions deliver critical provisions and new science experiments after previous supply losses caused by an Orbital ATK Cygnus rocket explosion and a Virgin Galactic crash.
Following a period marked by supply crises, a SpaceX Falcon rocket launches successfully in 2012, and the Dragon spacecraft is captured by the space station's robot arm at a distance of 10 kilometers to deliver 4,300 pounds of supplies. The cargo includes 20 live mice brought up for a study on how weightlessness affects bone, muscle, and vision, alongside supplies delivered by Russian Progress and Japanese HTV vehicles.
When experiencing isolation or frustration in space, you can read Alfred Lansing's book about Ernest Shackleton's expedition to remind yourself that your own hardships pale in comparison to what stranded explorers endured. You can bring the book Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing on your spaceflights, reflecting on how Shackleton's crew survived months on ice floes and crossed impassable mountains without losing a single member, bridging an approximate time gap of 100 years.
4. Station Operations and Life Support
Maintaining complex life support systems and executing precise spacecraft captures require meticulous adherence to safety protocols.
Docking and capturing visiting spacecraft on the ISS is a slow, methodical process focused heavily on safety rather than the rapid maneuvers depicted in science fiction movies. When the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft approaches the station, it stops at designated check-points (350 meters, 250 meters, 30 meters, and the 10-meter capture point) where ground teams verify systems and grant go or no go decisions. Inside 250 meters, the crew monitors the vehicle to ensure it stays within a safe corridor before an astronaut captures it using the robotic arm. Dragon matches an orbital speed of 17,500 miles per hour and begins matching the station's speed at a distance of 10 kilometers, ultimately delivering 4,300 pounds of cargo.
Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti successfully captured the SpaceX Dragon using the Canadarm2 while stationed in the Cupola, resulting in the delivery of 4,300 pounds of cargo including fresh food, mice, and care packages.
To perform a successful capture, you follow specific operational practices:
- Monitor the data screen showing the speed and position of the approaching vehicle.
- Ensure the vehicle stays within the safe keep-out sphere and corridor.
- Inhibit the station's thrusters when the vehicle is within 10 meters to prevent unintended jolts.
- Use the left hand for arm translation and the right hand for rotation to maneuver the robotic arm.
- Pull the trigger on the arm to execute the capture upon reaching the grapple fixture.
Elevated carbon dioxide levels on the space station pose a hidden and continuous danger to crew cognitive function and long-term health if not managed effectively. High CO2 concentrations cause symptoms such as headaches, nasal congestion, burning eyes, irritability, and severe impairment to cognitive function, which threatens the crew's ability to handle emergencies. While international agreements on the ISS permit up to six millimeters of mercury, nuclear submarines maintain much lower thresholds due to performance risks. Scott Kelly compares ISS safety limits unfavorably to U.S. Navy submarines, where the crew turns on air scrubbers once CO2 rises above two millimeters of mercury, compared to a high daily level of four millimeters of mercury.
The carbon dioxide removal assembly on the ISS is an exceptionally finicky and maintenance-heavy piece of hardware that requires frequent hands-on intervention from astronauts. The Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, known as Seedra, utilizes zeolite crystal absorbent beds to separate CO2 from the air. Maintaining and repairing the five-hundred-pound, engine-sized devices in microgravity involves disconnecting complex electrical, water-cooling, and vacuum lines while dealing with floating insulation and parts. Scott Kelly and Terry Virts had to troubleshoot and maintain the Seedras when air selector valves became gummed up with zeolite or electrical shorts caused unexpected shutdowns.
When performing repairs on the Seedra, you must execute precise maintenance steps:
- Power down the Seedra and allow it to cool completely.
- Disconnect all electrical connectors, water-cooling lines, and vacuum lines at the bottom of the rack.
- Remove all mounting bolts holding the unit in place.
- Slide out the unit and remove insulation to access internal connectors and Hydro Flow connectors.
- Replace insulation and restart the system after completing repairs.
Cultural integration and shared rituals, such as Friday night group dinners, are vital for maintaining high morale and strong cooperation among multinational crews on the ISS. Despite initial cultural misunderstandings and different operational styles between American and Russian space agencies, the crew relies on mutual respect, shared food, structured toasts, and humor to foster camaraderie. Every Friday night, the six astronauts and cosmonauts gather in the Russian segment for a group dinner featuring traditional toasts, Russian movies like Fifty Shades of Grey, and shared delicacies such as caviar and canned lobster.
Weekends on the space station do not offer complete rest, as mandatory exercise, deep cleaning protocols, and urgent maintenance tasks continue regardless of the day. Microgravity prevents normal settling of dust, hair, and debris, causing potential hazards to air circulation filters and encouraging dangerous mold growth. Scott Kelly accidentally triggered a station fire alarm during routine weekend air filter cleaning, which caused an automated ventilation shutdown and highlighted the stress of station upkeep.
Conducting biological experiments on animal subjects in space provides critical insights into the physiological mechanisms of spaceflight-induced aging and disease. Spaceflight triggers tissue damage that closely mirrors human aging, including muscle wasting, bone loss, and cardiovascular weakening. Scott Kelly spent an entire day working in the glove box to sedate, X-ray, and dissect mice, extracting blood, eyes, and hind legs for medical analysis under instructions from ground control.
Scientific research on the ISS serves a dual purpose: solving technical and physiological problems for deep space exploration and generating discoveries that benefit life on Earth. Over 400 experiments run concurrently on the station, leveraging the unique variable of removed gravity across subjects ranging from plant growth and combustion to human genetics and fluid shifts.
5. Naval Aviation and Flight Training
Mastering tactical aviation demands transparently acknowledging pilot errors, rigorous survival simulations, and absolute focus on controllable efforts.
Naval aviation indoctrination subjects candidates to intense physical, survival, and water escape simulations to ensure safety under extreme duress. You must conquer high-stress challenges like the Dilbert Dunker and helicopter dunker, which simulate emergency water ditching and require remaining calm while trapped underwater. Kelly successfully navigated the grueling water survival training, including the helicopter dunker where blindfolded candidates had to escape a sinking, flipped mock-up.
When you undergo survival training, you follow strict steps for an emergency water landing:
- Disconnect the comm wire from the helmet
- Release yourself from restraints
- Find your way out of the cockpit
- Dive deeper to escape surface fuel fires in a real water landing
Experiencing controlled oxygen deprivation in an altitude chamber reveals how rapidly hypoxia impairs cognitive function and induces dangerous euphoria. During altitude chamber testing simulating 25,000 feet, low pressure causes symptoms that quickly escalate from pleasant feelings to confusion and tunnel vision before a safety monitor intervenes. Kelly pushed his limits in the altitude chamber until he waited too long and a safety monitor had to put his oxygen mask back on for him.
Mastering the basics of flight requires rigorous study of emergency procedures and precise coordination of unconventional controls. Learning to fly the T-34C Turbo Mentor involved memorizing thick flight manuals, managing complex radio communication, and using differential braking instead of nose-wheel steering for taxiing. With his on-wing instructor Lieutenant Lex Lauletta, Kelly performed his first flight, struggling with altitude control and touch-and-go landings.
When you start an aircraft engine during training, you execute a specific checklist:
- Put the PCL idle
- T-handle down clip in place
- Standby fuel pump on
- Starter on
- Monitor N1 and ITT for start indications
- Starter off when ITT peaks or no indication of start
Acknowledging errors transparently and recognizing that every pilot makes mistakes helps prevent fatal cockiness. Student pilots frequently commit errors due to high pressure, but admitting mistakes immediately and learning from them is essential for long-term survival in aviation. On his first solo flight, Kelly accidentally lowered his landing gear while going too fast, forcing him to report the error to the tower and circle overhead for inspection at an altitude of 1,500 feet.
Succeeding in highly competitive military tracks requires focusing entirely on controllable efforts and rigorous preparation. By working as hard as possible on coursework, simulators, and flight standards while ignoring unpredictable outcomes, candidates maximize their chances of securing elite assignments. When assignment results were posted on the bulletin board for a group of 10 names, Kelly discovered he was assigned to Beeville Naval Air Station, making him one of only two in his group to make it to jets.
6. Resupply Crises and Medical Research
Cargo losses and closed-loop life support failures threaten station consumables, forcing agencies to rely on international cooperation and rigorous physiological countermeasures.
Bringing thousands of gallons of fresh water to Mars is impossible, making systems that recycle urine and purify water essential. On the ISS, a barter system exists where Russians provide fresh water and urine, and Americans provide solar-generated electricity and orbital reboosts.
You have to perform a messy repair on the distillation assembly in Node 3 when the urine processor breaks down, replacing the large silver drum and handling storage bags in the PMM. The U.S. side uses 120-volt power, which is more dangerous than the 28 volts on the Russian segment.
To perform the repair safely, you follow these steps:
- Consult with the ground team to ensure equipment is safely powered down to avoid electrocution.
- Remove the kabin walls and door around the toilet in Node 3 to access machinery.
- Disconnect electrical connectors and fluid lines, capping them to protect them.
- Remove the broken distillation assembly and store it in the PMM.
- Fit the new assembly in place, torque to a specific value, reconnect fluid and electrical lines carefully, and take verification photos.
When a Russian Progress resupply ship suffers a major malfunction and goes into a wild out-of-control spin, it cuts off supplies of food, clothing, oxygen, water, and replacement parts. Because the same rocket family launches the manned Soyuz, the incident grounds upcoming crew rotations. You are left with three months' worth of consumables remaining after recent resupply failures. Later, an American Orbital ATK resupply rocket previously exploded on the launchpad in an October launch date, and an American SpaceX rocket also explodes during cargo launch.
Malfunctioning carbon dioxide scrubbers severely impact crew morale and physical well-being by causing elevated CO2 levels and headaches.
The ISS relies on Seedra air-scrubbing units to manage carbon dioxide levels. When both units experience mechanical failures, carbon dioxide rises, leading to physical discomfort, cognitive sluggishness, and headaches for you and your crewmates. Scott Kelly and Terry spend hours dismantling a stubborn Seedra unit in Node 3, tearing up their hands and struggling with tight spaces and washers before successfully repairing the fan motor.
7. Spacewalks and Emergency Protocols
Extreme vulnerabilities during extravehicular activities and space debris threats require constant hypervigilance, strict containment techniques, and precise operational discipline.
If closing speed reaches extreme velocities, a collision could instantly depressurize and vaporize the station, making shelter procedures essential for survival despite the low odds of impact survival. When space debris approaches the International Space Station with extremely short notice, you must execute emergency hatch closures and prepare the Soyuz spacecraft as a lifeboat.
Scott Kelly and his crewmates Misha and Gennady sheltered inside the cramped, noisy Soyuz spacecraft while waiting out a red late-notice conjunction from an old Russian satellite. Standard engine avoidance maneuvers require six hours of notice, while closing rates can reach thirty-five thousand miles per hour or fourteen kilometers per second.
You must follow specific containment protocols during an emergency:
- close and check all eighteen hatches on the U.S. segment;
- collect vital items including defibrillator, medical kit, iPad, and personal drives;
- take shelter inside the Soyuz spacecraft ten minutes before potential impact.
Conducting scientific health research on the ISS requires complex and meticulous protocols for collecting biological samples in zero gravity. Everyday medical procedures such as urine and blood draws become difficult in microgravity because expelled liquids form floating spheres that must be contained and cleaned immediately. Scott Kelly and Gennady collected numerous blood and urine tubes for ongoing health monitoring, accidentally creating floating crimson spheres of blood during a difficult draw.
You must handle these medical operations using precise steps:
- attach condom and mesh bandages to the urine collection bag;
- draw samples using syringes and store tubes in freezers;
- centrifuge blood samples for thirty minutes before freezing.
8. Astronaut Selection and Shuttle Operations
Rigorous medical screening and intensive astronaut candidate training prepare individuals for the immense physical forces and fatal risks of space shuttle missions.
When applying for the NASA astronaut corps in 1995 at 31 years old, you might submit a concise application while others send massive stacks of paper. The space agency rejects candidates for minor conditions like a history of kidney stones or premature atrial contractions (PACs) found during a 24-hour Holter monitor test.
During an official 50-minute interview before 20 people in your group, legends like John Young might interrupt your timeline and quiz you on the 50 hertz frequency response of a Tomcat's longitudinal flight control system. NASA evaluates applicants individually, selecting both you and your twin brother in 1996 to set aside concerns about choosing relatives.
Spacewalks present extreme dangers, requiring you to navigate 250-pound spacesuits while the station orbits 250 miles above Earth at 17,500 miles per hour. You must follow exact procedures before stepping outside:
- prebreathe pure oxygen for one hour to reduce nitrogen in the blood and prevent the bends;
- put on liquid cooling garments and secure all suit connections;
- perform buddy checks of PLSS backpacks, helmet lights, cameras, and jet pack handles;
- secure safety tethers to station rings and double-check them before moving outside;
- translate hand over hand along exterior rails while continuously monitoring tethers, tasks, and timeline.
You must also endure Russian medical rules and pain. Steve Gilmore worked for a year to clear prostate cancer records, though you still fly with a catheterization kit. Before launch, you step into warm plaster for custom Soyuz seat liners and endure an hour and a half pressure check in a Sokol suit.
10 Key Ideas
- Surviving an unprecedented year in microgravity requires rigid discipline, extreme mental resilience, and absolute trust in international cooperation.
- Spaceflight operations are deeply shaped by rigid rituals that provide psychological comfort in a life-threatening profession.
- Encountering powerful literary works and enduring rigorous childhood challenges shape an unmotivated individual into a disciplined military aviator.
- Aiming for maximum performance and working through every single obstacle provides the necessary drive to overcome poor foundational skills.
- Maintaining complex life support systems and executing precise spacecraft captures require meticulous adherence to safety protocols.
- Mastering tactical aviation demands transparently acknowledging pilot errors, rigorous survival simulations, and absolute focus on controllable efforts.
- Cargo losses and closed-loop life support failures threaten station consumables, forcing agencies to rely on international cooperation and rigorous physiological countermeasures.
- Extreme vulnerabilities during extravehicular activities and space debris threats require constant hypervigilance, strict containment techniques, and precise operational discipline.
- Rigorous medical screening and intensive astronaut candidate training prepare individuals for the immense physical forces and fatal risks of space shuttle missions.
- Cultural integration and shared rituals, such as Friday night group dinners, are vital for maintaining high morale and strong cooperation among multinational crews on the ISS.