Scott Kelly Sets Record

An example of media bias. Scott Kelly has been reported as having set a record aboard the International Space Station. Most reports are careful to mention that it is a NASA record. Of course, because he set the record along with Russian Mikhail Korniyenko. Does anyone mention that in those reports? Hmm (Okay a few do, buried deep somewhere).

And this 'record' really isn't even a record. The outright record of time in space on the one mission is held by Valeri Polyakov aboard Mir (437 days), and in second place Sergei Avdeyev (379 days). Kelly/Korniyenko are actually in 4th place.

That folks is a wooden medal, not even bronze. Is the USA that desperate for good news?

Oh and the person that has spent the most time in space, across multiple missions, is another Russian Genady Padalka (879 days).

Is all this time in space valuable? On many fronts it is, but getting to grips with zero gravity is another matter entirely. Those on the ISS are actually equivalent to sky divers. They are weightless, falling, not experiencing zero gravity. They experience the same amount of gravity on their bodies as we do on the surface of the planet.

It's an amazing sight going out at night to see the ISS fly across the sky. It looks like a shooting star, except it never burns up. Sometimes though, I wonder why we are told some of the things we hear. Are they after more money? And what do they need the money for? 

Mars, I mean really, it's a dead planet. It died because as a planet it is not viable. I don't want to contribute to someone landing on it and I think the taxpayer should not have to pay for any of it either. Doing so would be a waste of time IMO.