NASA and International Partners Approve Year-Long Space Station Stay

Oct. 5, 2012

Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov

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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