NASA Eyes Year-Long Missions on Space Station

[Still Waters]

With an eye toward preparing for eventual human missions to Mars, NASA is considering doubling an astronaut's stay aboard the International Space Station from six months to one year.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported this week that the Russian space agency and its space station partners had agreed to launch a cosmonaut and a NASA astronaut to the station in 2015 for a year-long experimental mission.

NASA spokesman Rob Navias told Discovery News the U.S. space agency had been "exploring the idea," but that no agreements have been signed.

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