Source -
http://www.nasa.gov for Oct. 5, 2012 - RELEASE: 12-354
NASA AND INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS APPROVE YEAR-LONG SPACE STATION STAY
WASHINGTON
-- NASA and its international partners have announced an agreement to
send two crew members to the International Space Station on a one-year
mission designed to collect valuable scientific data needed to send
humans to new destinations in the solar system.
The
crew members, one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut, will
launch and land in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and are scheduled to begin
their voyage in spring 2015.
The space station serves
as a laboratory for technological demonstrations and scientific
research, including experiments that improve understanding of how the
human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Data
from a year-long expedition also will help inform assumptions about crew
performance and health, and will help reduce the risks associated with
future exploration.
"In order for us to eventually
move beyond low Earth orbit, we need to better understand how humans
adapt to long-term spaceflight," said Michael Suffredini, International
Space Station program manager. "The space station serves as a vital
scientific resource for teaching us those lessons, and this yearlong
expedition aboard the complex will help us move closer to those
journeys."
During the 12 years of permanent human
presence aboard the space station, scientists and researchers have
gained valuable, and often surprising, data on the effects of
microgravity on bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other
aspects of human physiology. This year-long stay will allow for greater
analysis of these effects and trends.
"We have gained
new knowledge about the effects of spaceflight on the human body from
the scientific research conducted on the space station, and it is the
perfect time to test a one-year expedition aboard the orbital
laboratory," said Julie Robinson, NASA's program scientist for the
International Space Station. "What we will gain from this expedition
will influence the way we structure our human research plans in the
future."
The expedition also will serve as a test bed
for future exploration technologies. Those innovative technologies, the
logistics of the trip to and from the space station and the selection of
the crew will be announced at a future time.
For more information about the International Space Station and its crew, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
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