Stretched Astronaut Shrinks On Earth

Back on earth after an astonishing 340 consecutive days in orbit on the international space station, Astronaut Scott Kelly (Left) shrinks nearly 4cm, says his identical twin brother Mark (Right).

His 340 days aboard the international space station allowed NASA to study the effects of prolonged space travel using a comparison between his development and that of his twin brother, Mark, on Earth.

Astronauts in space typically grow taller because the spine has a chance to stretch with negligible force from gravity acting on it.

Once back on Earth, Commander Kelly shrank back to normal within two days.

His growth has been reported as up to two inches, but the astronaut’s brother told CNN that the pair stood back-to-back an hour after he returned to the US on Thursday.

Commander Kelly touched down in a bitterly cold Kazakhstan along with Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergei Volko.

During his year in space, he did everything from science experiments to spacewalks.

He described his time in space as like “camping in the woods”. He said it was a “harsh environment” that your body never truly gets used to.