Kelly has spent more time in space, altogether, than any other American: 520 days over the course of four missions.
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Kelly was involved in the robotic capture of two NASA-contracted cargo flights – SpaceX’s Dragon during the company’s sixth commercial resupply mission and Orbital ATK’s Cygnus during the company’s fourth commercial resupply mission. Kelly remarked that he felt that he could have stayed in space “however long it took” and that the implications for long-term space travel were extremely positive.
After Kelly’s initial testing is complete, he told reporters last week the one thing he wanted to do most back on Earth. Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, who arrived on the ISS last September, also returned with Kelly and Kornienko.
NASA has announced that the trio landed in Kazakhstan at 11:26pm EST on March 1st-or 10:26am on March 2nd in Kazakhstan time.
Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko returned to terra firma from the International Space Station earlier this morning at the end of a “historic” 340 days aboard the orbiting outpost.
His 340 consecutive days in space sets a USA record – but falls short of the world record of 438 days set by Valeri Polyakov, a Russian physician, in the 1990s. After the big goodbye they stuck around another three hours putting on their launch and entry suits, pressurizing the craft and checking for leaks in the hatch, suits and descent module.
NASA researchers will help answer questions about the space mission through Reddit on Friday morning, and the space agency will conduct a press conference in the afternoon as well to discuss the findings of the scientists.
They didn’t go anywhere new – besides sailing more than 17,000 miles per hour (27,359 km/h) around the Earth – but the one-year astronauts are still explorers pushing the frontier of what we understand about the human body in space. I liken the impact on the ground to going through a auto crash.
Kelly, 52, was also part of an experiment comparing his development and changes in space with those of his identical twin brother Mark back on Earth, who is a former astronaut.
Kornienko also is coming back Tuesday and cosmonaut Sergey Volkov is on the flight too – though he did not spend a year on the space station. He’s part of a study that charts what happens to the human body after a prolonged stay in space. Some of the activities that the astronauts will be expected to do for the tests include standing up after sitting and climbing ladders.
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Kelly will now be flown to Houston for a NASA medical examination.
