At 17100 miles per hour, the International Space Station (ISS) orbits the earth every 90 minutes, yes, that is a staggering speed. But the most interesting thing about this journey is that those inside the ISS get to witness 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets each day. This is perhaps the most adventurous journeys of all, not to mention, a bit mind-altering.

Life on the ISS is now for all to see in the award-winning documentary, Year in Space, whose central character is veteran astronaut Scott Kelly. Kelly spent a year (2015 - 2016) in the ISS in order to give us a better understanding of how the human body adapts, or what changes does it go through while staying in zero gravity for such an extended period. But the story does not end there. Scott Kelly’s results were then compared to his twin brother Mark, who was also an astronaut but stayed on earth for the whole time. The differences were many.


Kelly Scott experienced a number of changes that his twin brother Mark did not, however, there were no significant health differences. Due to weightlessness in space, the body bristles at life in space, and fluids clog the sinuses due to floating freely. This gave his face a puffy appearance. Bones and muscles declined, and parts of the eyeball become swollen. Perhaps the most dangerous of all is the exposure to high levels of radiation that put the cells at risk of cancer.

Kelly Scott’s 342-day stay in the ISS, ended with him seeing 10944 sunrises, and sunsets; during the same time, we here on earth were witness to 684 sunrises and sunsets. As fascinating as that sounds, one cannot overlook the implications that it might have on the mind.

This year, the first person from the United Arab Emirates went to space for eight days. He landed back safely on October 3, 2019, in Kazakhstan.