Scott Kelly is about to go where no American astronaut has gone before.
A full year in space.
"It is such a magical incredible place and sort of place and we all feel fortunate to be a part of it," Kelly said.
Starting with his launch Friday on a Russian Soyuz, Kelly's mission begins.
"You are not getting in the car on in the airline and flying home," Kelly's brother, Mark Kelly, said. "That ain't happening."
And for those who love him, the waiting starts.
"I know what you will miss," Scott's girlfriend, Imiko Kauderer, said as she scratches his hand. "It is a human touch thing."
Communication with his girlfriend and brother will be easy: Kauderer works at NASA and Mark will be undergoing the same testing as Scott, but back on earth. They're part of a near perfect science experiment: to look at the effects of long-term space travel.
But no matter how many video links or emails, Scott will be far away from those he loves most.
"I can't upload human touch," Kauderer said. "Those, I think, are the things that we will miss most."
It's a confined space on the International Space Station, where Scott will live—13 rooms, about the size of a six-bedroom house back home. But with no yard to roam, unless he ventures out on a spacewalk.
And the mission isn't without its worry.
"My biggest concern is not all the bad stuff that can happen in space, it's the bad stuff that can happen to people on the ground," Scott said.
There are very few things that can bring someone home early from the ISS—none of them having anything to do with what happens on earth. Scott knows that from the last time he was in space. His sister-in-law, Gabby Giffords, was shot in Arizona.
Mark will have to be Scott's other half on the ground.
"I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I wish I was blasting off in a rocket," Mark said.
