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Record-Setting Astronaut Retires from NASA (space.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the down-to-earth dept.

Record-setting NASA astronaut Scott Kelly retired from NASA on Friday, after spending more than 520 days in outer space, spread across four space missions -- two space shuttle flights and two recent missions on the orbiting International Space Station. The 52-year-old astronaut's last visit to the space station lasted more than a year, "a profound challenge for all involved," Kelly says, "and it gave me a unique perspective and a lot of time to reflect on what my next step should be on our continued journey to help further our capabilities in space and on Earth." Kelly's time in space started with a 1999 mission on the space shuttle to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and he's since spent more time in space than any other American. According to Space.com, NASA and Kelly have both said that his long-duration visits are the first baby steps towards a manned missions to Mars.

40 comments

  1. 340 days is not more than a year by weedjams · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.nasa.gov/content/on...

    1. Re:340 days is not more than a year by Sooner+Boomer · · Score: 1

      Exactly. I was going to post on this, you just beat me to it. No wonder Mars missions fail. Jeez, I'd hate to have these guys do my taxes or something really important!

      --
      Chaos maximizes locally around me.
    2. Re:340 days is not more than a year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is, for very short years (Venus or Mercury).

    3. Re:340 days is not more than a year by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      I just hope their PR people aren't helping design the crewed spacecraft they're never going to build again.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    4. Re:340 days is not more than a year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      340 days is not more than a year

      340 days in one mission is also not the total sum of days over all four missions, of which you didn't link to three of to include in the count.

      That's like saying you haven't worked 5 years at that job you have been employed at for the past 5 years, simply because you never stayed at work longer than 8 hours at a time.

    5. Re:340 days is not more than a year by cyn1c77 · · Score: 1

      http://www.nasa.gov/content/on...

      Why do you think they were talking about earth years? :)

    6. Re:340 days is not more than a year by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      It's bad enough that NASA keeps calling it one year in space (see second article in the summary).

  2. Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    437 in one go
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    879 in total

    Nice try America

    1. Re:Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only that, but Kelly's last two space flights were only possible because Russia took him to the ISS. The US has no more ability to launch humans into space, so if it wants astronauts, it must beg Russia and/or China for a ride.

    2. Re:Meh by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but Kelly's last two space flights were only possible because Russia took him to the ISS. The US has no more ability to launch humans into space, so if it wants astronauts, it must beg Russia and/or China for a ride.

      Nonsense. There is no need to beg taxi drivers.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    3. Re:Meh by martinfb · · Score: 1

      I don't get this response. The article does say Kelly holds American records, not mankind's.

      --


      Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
  3. He lost his flight status by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and that's what happens to most of those who stay up so long. Better to quit than be grounded.

    1. Re:He lost his flight status by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Good astronauts never die, they just go DNIF.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  4. There are bigger problems than that here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The lack of Unicode support is a good thing. Look at other sites that support Unicode. All it means is spam in Chinese and Russian, plus a bunch of stupid Japanese-style kaomoji and emoji. Slashdot doesn't need stupidity like that. Anything worth expressing here can be done using the ISO-8859-1 characters.

    There are much bigger problems to deal with first. One is how Slashdot still makes causes HTTP requests to be made to "Taboola" and "ScoreCoard Research" and "Janrain" and "ntv.io". I don't know what any of them are, but they sure as fuck sound like attempts to track us! Over a month ago whipslash said something about cleaning up those trackers, but they still seem to be present! It shouldn't be that hard to remove them!

    Another huge problem is the bad moderation. It's routine to see perfectly good comments modded down for no good reason. This happens so often that it's necessary to browse Slashdot at -1 just to see all of the good comments that were wrongly modded down! That, of course, means that the whole moderation system becomes useless. The metamod system clearly isn't helping, because this problem continues to happen, and may even be getting worse.

    The posting limits are out of hand, too. At at time when Slashdot's community is dwindling in number and discussion is needed more than ever before, the stupid posting limits actually prevent anything resembling meaningful discussion! If you do attempt to engage in meaningful discussion, which necessarily involves some back-and-forth commenting, you'll quickly hit the posting limits and be forced to wait. Once that happens one or both parties will lose interest and move on to something else, likely not involving Slashdot.

    Instead of adding more useless functionality like Unicode support, I'd like to see them start stripping away the crap. Get rid of the ad trackers. Get rid of the broken moderation system. Get rid of the even more broken metamoderation system. Get rid of the stupid posting limits.

  5. Don't confuse Earth time to Space time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the continuum time moves slower on the surface of the Earth so it was over a year for him. It's about space. It's about time. I know the ferryman won't grasp the concept but that's just the way it is.

    1. Re:Don't confuse Earth time to Space time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the continuum time moves slower on the surface of the Earth so it was over a year for him. It's about space. It's about time. I know the ferryman won't grasp the concept but that's just the way it is.

      "Don't pay the ferryman, don't even pick the price!"

  6. 49 weeks is not more than one year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While the article asserts "The 52-year-old astronaut's last visit to the space station lasted more than a year, " in fact, it was more than three weeks shy. The NASA International Space Station Mission Summary at https://www.nasa.gov/content/one-year-crew shows launch on 27 March 2015 and landing on 1 March 2016, 340 days.

    1. Re:49 weeks is not more than one year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NASA counts time in dog years.

    2. Re:49 weeks is not more than one year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's almost more than a year.

    3. Re:49 weeks is not more than one year by OzPeter · · Score: 2

      While the article asserts "The 52-year-old astronaut's last visit to the space station lasted more than a year, " in fact, it was more than three weeks shy. The NASA International Space Station Mission Summary at https://www.nasa.gov/content/o... shows launch on 27 March 2015 and landing on 1 March 2016, 340 days.

      WhenI saw that headline my first thought was that the "editor" deliberately said "lasted more than a year" in order to intentionally rile up the locals and generate more interest in the story. IE Making it more "click bait-y" without looking like you are making it "click bait-y".

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  7. So we can put a man in space... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 0

    across four space missions â"

    ...but we can't get Unicode support working on Slashdot.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  8. He is not very confident in NASA is he? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "reflect on what my next step should be on our continued journey to help further our capabilities in space and on Earth" ==> Retire!

  9. "Scott Kelly." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Who?"

    "Scott Kelly, man ... legendary astronaut? Aw, forget it."

  10. Maybe it includes prep time. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A space missing doesn't just start at the moment the rocket lifts off, and it doesn't end the moment the astronaut is back on the ground. There is a huge amount of preparation that goes on before, and followup work that happens after. Actually being in space is just a small part of a much longer process. So maybe they are including prep and followup time in their definition of the length of the mission, which would be a perfectly sensible thing to do.

    It's a lot like setting up a web server. You wouldn't want to get paid just for the few minutes it takes to configure an Apache vhost and copy over some files to be served up. You'd also want to be paid for the time it takes to provision the hardware or VM, the time it takes to install Linux, the many hours of fighting with systemd just to get the computer to boot, the time to install Apache and other dependencies, and any followup work that's necessary to make sure that OpenSSL (and any other software being used) is patched after serious security flaws are discovered.

    You need to think of the big picture, not the small picture.

  11. In his defense .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd rush home to what is on his arm and just call it a year.

  12. I should clarify. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The above and this is his girlfriend.

  13. Thank you for your service, Astronaut!! by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    Kelly's not the longest serving human aboard the Space Station, but the fact that he has an identical twin in the space program could provide valuable insight on physiological changes that occur during extended stays off the blue planet.

    He is respectful of the Russians he has trained and served with, and the lesson of the dissolution of tribal prejudices could be more important than any scientific discovery made during his time in space.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Thank you for your service, Astronaut!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dissolution of tribal prejudices?
      I feel these have become far, far worse in the years following the shuttle program. If that's what NASA was doing, the tribal prejudices appear to have won and beat NASA into submission. Speaking for myself personally, I have seen almost every one of my close friends go in different directions steered by their quest for "moral integrity" which they basically define by cutting people out of their lives they deem to be "evil communists" or the like.

    2. Re:Thank you for your service, Astronaut!! by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      He is respectful of the Russians he has trained and served with, and the lesson of the dissolution of tribal prejudices could be more important than any scientific discovery made during his time in space.

      That's commie-talk, son!

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  14. Is he going to campaign for Hillery by rossdee · · Score: 0

    with his twin brother Mark (also retired astronaut) and Mark's wife Gabby Gifford

    1. Re:Is he going to campaign for Hillery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean Hillary? In any event, who cares?

    2. Re: Is he going to campaign for Hillery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)

      Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.

      Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!

      Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.

  15. He did not set jack shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some massive organisation decides to waste enough resources to effectively place a man alive in orbit (in a tin can) for an extended period of time. He the hell did this guy break any records himself? It could have just as well been a monkey up there.

    1. Re:He did not set jack shit by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      ...He the hell did this guy break any records himself? It could have just as well been a monkey up there.

      Just like the moon landings. Been there, done that.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  16. Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    his Russian colleagues, who have set even greater records, carry on.

  17. Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some guy is retiring from NASA. No wait, he's not retiring from NASA, he's just changing his job at NASA. So f*cking what? I heard a dog took a crap in Houston the other day. Why isn't that on slashdot?

    1. Re:Who cares? by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      ...I heard a dog took a crap in Houston the other day. Why isn't that on slashdot?

      If the dog had crapped in outer space for almost more than a year, it would have been.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  18. A joke? by antdude · · Score: 1

    April 1, 2016 07:20pm ET. :/

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  19. Space Fiction for Space Fans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ISS hoax! Gravity is still unproven theory, and Earth is consistently measured flat.