A Year in Space

Getting to Mars requires multiple systems in NASA to be working at once. The system that's the most fragile and destructible of all, however, is the human body. It's the one we didn't invent; the one we're stuck with. You know, I think twins tend to be a little bit different. You know I think their relationship is a bit different than just siblings. When we were little we had our own secret language. I remember laying in bed one time in the morning......and talking to my brother about how we were going to build an airplane in the backyard. And we just were 5 or 6 years old. We figured we could do that! Yup! This thing is not meant to walk around in. We didn't get very far with the airplane. Or later with the spaceship... While twins are born with the same genetic material, that changes over time. And maybe it changes more rapidly in space than on Earth. NASA is doing kind of a comparative study between my brother Mark and I, since we're identical twins. I call him much more when I'm in space than I do on Earth. And it's because you just feel like you're so far away, that you're trying to maintain some kind of connection. I'll be probably more excited for him than anybody else. You know, I've flown 4 flights. And this will be his 4th flight. My Mom's passed away, but for my Dad, to have gone through this experience 8 times now. It's a lot.