A year in space: Aching joints and the weird feeling of clothing touching your skin

By Marcia Dunn The Associated Press

Posted March 4, 2016 4:59 pm EST

1 min read

This article is more than 8 years old and some information may not be up to date.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly describes the physical changes to his body after year in space – Mar 4, 2016

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Fresh from a year in space, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly says his muscles and joints ache. His skin is so sensitive it burns when he sits or walks. And he can’t sink a basketball shot.

Story continues below advertisement

He’s surprised. After his previous five-month space station mission, he wasn’t nearly this tired or sore. And he lost the 1 1/2 inches he gained in space, almost as soon as he stood on solid ground.

WATCH: Scott Kelly says he went ‘kind of bananas’ for times during one-year mission aboard ISS

Kelly returned from the International Space Station on Wednesday, ending a 340-day mission that set a U.S. record. It took him a full day to get back home from Kazakhstan to Houston. That’s when the aches and pains set in. He held his first post-flight news conference Friday, drawing a crowd at Johnson Space Center.