But let’s take a pause from the much-deserved Kelly love to give a shoutout to his partner in this ambitious spaceflight endeavor, Kornienko, who has now logged a grand total of 516 days in space. Kelly will be compared to his twin brother Mark Kelly to see what affects long term space travel has on the human body as NASA takes the next step to send humans to Mars.
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“I’m used to going 17,500 miles per hour, but this airplane doesn’t do quite that”, Kelly joked at a brief welcoming ceremony attended by Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.
He’s back on earth but his mission is not over.
Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko (L), Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos (C), and Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA (R) rest in chairs outside the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft just minutes after they landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, March 2, 2016.
Even though Kelly stayed aboard the International Space Station for twice as long as crewmembers usually do, the current plan is to put him through the standard 45-day reconditioning program, Gilmore added.
“The air out here feels great”.
Human metabolic and cardiovascular health in space could now be more closely studied than in previous astronauts, because while Kelly was orbiting Earth, his genetic makeup was simultaneously living here in his twin.
Not quite a year – 340 days to be precise, based on the Russian launch and landing schedule.
Mark Kelly who is a retired astronaut, offered himself to NASA as a medical guinea-pig.
Kelly and Kornienko, whose colleagues on the ISS included British astronaut Tim Peake, tested special Russian equipment created to return fluid to the lower limbs as well as special exercise regimes created to counter the wastage of bone and muscle caused by the lightened physical load of zero gravity.
The almost yearlong mission, while unprecedented for the ISS, did not set the record for most time spent in space continuously.
Kelly also promised to keep a personal journal of his experience on the space station and said that he might share it with us.
It was a triumphant homecoming for the American and Russian after 340 days in space.
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“It’s been a long trip”, Scott Kelly said after arriving in Houston. “Follow me as I rediscover #Earth!” NASA is hoping to use some of that information for future missions to Mars. A year is really long. Both have daughters and families to return to.
