‘Beyond A Year in Space’ to air on AETN

CONWAY — “Beyond A Year In Space” will air on the Arkansas Educational Television Network at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The follow up to the Emmy Award-winning film “A Year In Space” follows astronaut Scott Kelly’s homecoming and long-awaited reunion with his family in Texas after his record-breaking stay in space with Russian cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko.

The film also tracks the extensive medical testing undergone by Scott and his brother and fellow astronaut, Mark Kelly. As identical twins, the brothers presented NASA with the extraordinary opportunity of conducting experiments on two individuals who have the same genetic makeup but spent the year in vastly different environments. The data from the study will help NASA determine what it will take for humans to endure long-duration space travel in preparation for a mission to Mars, an unprecedented three-year journey.

The film also introduces two new astronauts, biologist Jessica Meir and former Navy pilot Victor Glover, who are preparing to venture farther than humanity has ever gone and provides a behind-the-scenes look at how they are training to go the distance.

While first-generation astronauts were mostly “top guns” chosen for their experience in flying untested vehicles, the new generation is a diverse team with a wide variety of backgrounds and skill sets. The film follows Meir and Glover at NASA and at home, exploring their lives as astronauts and as individuals as each expresses what it means to carry on the legacy of the astronauts who came before them.