Astronaut twins make space history as NASA launches landmark experiment

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (R), and his twin brother Mark pose after a news conference at Baikonur cosmodrome March 26, 2015. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev)

If we are going to fly humans to Mars one day, we’ve got to learn more about how being in space affects astronauts. So Friday, NASA begins a landmark, human experiment.

“That would be me. I think I'm the lab rat,” Mark Kelly told Fox News, during a recent interview in Houston.  His twin brother Scott followed, “he's the controlled lab rat. I'm the other lab rat."

Identical twin astronauts Mark - now retired - and Scott Kelly are embarking on space, and earth, history.

Scott, who’s spent six months living aboard the International Space Station before, is now doubling down.   In a landmark study, he’ll live in space for one year - 342 days, to be exact - all to see what happens.  As in, what happens to HIM.

It’s all about going to Mars and beyond. “To have this unique opportunity to be the first American to do this -- and I do feel grateful and feel like I am in a privileged position -- even though you know it's going to be a tough flight being in space for that long," he said.

To get from Earth to Mars, under current rocket technology, it would take 6 months.  Then there’s the 6 month return trip.  And perhaps you’d spend 3 months on Mars doing research.  That’s about 500 days away from Earth.

We’ve all seen the weakened astronauts being helped into chairs upon landing in Kazakhstan. And that’s after 6 months in space.

Microgravity causes bone loss, muscle loss, vision problems and psychological effects due to the loneliness and isolation in small, space compartments.

So, much more must be learned about the physiological drain, mental effects and health issues caused by near-zero gravity and interstellar radiation.

"My hope is that we discover that the mitigation steps that we came up with for the bone and muscle loss are effective and they work,” said Kelly. “The vision problem we have is much different. I mean we really don't understand why that's happening.”

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will also live the next year in space.  But since Scott Kelly has a genetic replica in Mark, scientists will study him, too.

Scientists from 12 universities will monitor Mark’s blood samples, his exercise and his overall health, comparing it with brother Scott’s data sent 250 miles down from the space station.

Scott will spend about a third of his day exercising at the Station, mandatory to keep the muscle atrophy at bay.  Mark will continue doing his regular exercise routine in Houston.  He says everything the twins do during this year doesn’t have to be exactly the same.  And that includes what they eat and drink, as well, which - for Mark - is fortunate.

“I live about a mile from an In And Out Burger,” he joked.

“It’s a long time, you know, it really is,” said Mark.  “A year of doing anything is a really long time.”

No walks in the park, no restaurants, no beach.  For 12 months. So, what does Scott think that he’ll miss the most?  Well, he knows what it’s like to be gone for 6 months, as he spent a 6 month assignment on the Space Station back in 2010/2011.

"I do miss the weather and the seasons, but the things you miss the most are the human relationships you have with your friends and family and people you love on the ground.”

Scott Kelly and Kornienko will participate in more than 400 scientific experiments during their 12 months in space.

Kelly has a long-term girlfriend, and two kids from a previous marriage. Kornienko has a wife and a grown daughter.   They won’t see their loved ones for a long time, but both will be able to email from the Space Station and make occasional phone calls, all while looking out the porthole as they see “home” revolving beneath them, 16 times a day.

Phil Keating joined Fox News Channel (FNC) in March 2004 and currently serves as FNC's Miami-based correspondent.

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Once-conjoined NY twins make debut at Pa. hospital

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — More than nine months after they were born joined at the lower chest and abdomen, twin girls made their public debut Thursday at the hospital where they were separated.

Allison June and Amelia Lee Tucker, clad in animal-striped shirts and flowered headbands, were introduced during a news conference at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Both girls still have nasal tubes but appeared rosy-cheeked and alert as they were held by their parents, Shellie and Greg Tucker, of Adams, N.Y., about 300 miles north of Philadelphia near Lake Ontario.

Allison, described by doctors and her parents as the smaller but feistier twin, was discharged from the hospital Monday. Her sister Amelia, who's larger and more reserved, needs a little more recovery time and will remain in the hospital into the new year.

"We totally expect them to have full, independent lives," said pediatric surgeon Dr. Holly Hedrick, who led a 40-person medical team in the complex seven-hour operation on Nov. 7.

The twins shared a chest wall, diaphragm, liver and pericardium, the membrane around the heart.

Shellie Tucker was about 20 weeks into her pregnancy when she learned she was carrying conjoined twins. Prenatal screening tests at Children's Hospital, including ultrasound imaging and MRI, determined that they would be good candidates for separation.

Planning for the separation surgery began months before the twins were delivered by cesarean section on March 1. Shortly after they were born, plastic surgeons inserted expanders under the girls' skin to increase the skin surface available to cover exposed organs after their separation.

Shellie Tucker described the past year as a "roller coaster ride" but said she was relieved now that her daughters are doing so well.

"The burden is completely gone, and I am very, very happy," she said.

The surgery was the 21st successful separation of conjoined twins performed at the hospital. The first was in 1957.

According to statistics provided by the hospital, conjoined twins occur once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births and about 70 percent are female. Most conjoined twins are stillborn.

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Online:

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: http://www.chop.edu

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Monster Black Hole Twins Found Inside Galaxy's Belly (SPACE.com)

A galaxy already known to have one ginormous black hole at its core is actually home to two of these cosmic giants, a new study reveals.

Astronomers discovered the second monster black hole at the center of the galaxy Markarian 739, which is about 425 million light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Leo. Its presence was revealed in observations by NASA's Swift satellite and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The two black holes are separated by about 11,000 light years, which is about one-third the distance between our solar system and the center of the Milky Way. One light-year is about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). [Photos: Black Holes of the Universe]

Supermassive black hole twins

Both black holes are intensely active and classified as "supermassive," that is, they can each have a mindboggling mass equivalent to millions — or even billions — of stars like our sun.  Stellar black holes, formed by the collapse of massive stars, typically have up to 10 or 20 times the mass of the sun.  

"At the hearts of most large galaxies, including our own Milky Way, lies a supermassive black hole weighing millions of times the sun's mass," said the study's lead author Michael Koss,  a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland in College Park, in a statement. "Some of them radiate billions of times as much energy as the sun."

While supermassive black holes are relatively common at the core of galaxies, not all are radiating energy to be what astronomers call "active galactic nuclei" (AGN). So it is rare to find one active monster black hole, let alone two, in the same galaxy, researchers said.

When galaxies collide

Astronomers suspect that the active binary supermassive black hole setup can occur when galaxies collide.

"If two galaxies collide and each possesses a supermassive black hole, there should be times when both black holes switch on as AGN," said study co-author Richard Mushotzky, also of the University of Maryland in College Park.

The astronomers discovered the dual black hole heart of Markarian 739 by using NASA's Swift satellite's Burst Alert Telescope, which maps intense sources of X-ray emissions in the sky, to seek out potential active galactic nuclei. Researchers can then zoom in on potential candidates with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Markarian 739's second black hole was invisible in the ultraviolet, visible and radio ranges of the light spectrum, so it remained hidden until this new study, researchers said. The findings will be detailed in an upcoming edition of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The two giant black holes at the center of Markarian 739, which is also known by the name NGC 3758, are not the first monster black hole twins seen by astronomers, and they're not the closest either.  Both records are held by the galaxy NGC 6240, a galaxy that is about 330 million light-years from Earth.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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