May 12, 2021
The choice of the pioneering Kelly turned
As he relinquished command of the space station Monday, Kelly noted that he and
Kornienko "have been up here for a really, really long time" and have been
jokingly telling one another, "We did it!" and "We made it!""A year now seems
longer than I thought it would be," Kelly confided a couple weeks ago.NASA's
Scott Kelly and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko had been in space for 340 days.Kelly
was the first one into the docked Soyuz capsule after a round of hugs and
handshakes with the three crewmen staying behind.Kelly has spent more time in
space, altogether, than any other American: 520 days over the course of four
missions."What a ride he took us on!" fellow astronaut Reid Wiseman said in a
tweet from Earth. He'll have plenty of pictures, at least, for the scrapbook —
he posted 1,000 dramatic, color-drenched pictures of Earth on his Twitter and
Instagram accounts. Radiation will be a top challenge, along with the body and
mind's durability on what will be a 2 -year journey round trip. But still
record-smashing for NASA. Before committing to even longer Mars missions, NASA
wants to know the limits of the human body for a year, minus gravity."Well, this
brings back distant memories.
The two yearlong spacemen will undergo a series of
medical tests following touchdown.".Astronaut Scott Kelly closed the door
Tuesday to an unprecedented year in space for NASA, flying back to the planet
and loved ones he left behind last March.Kelly posted one last batch of sunrise
photos Tuesday on Twitter, before quipping, "I gotta go!" His final tweet from
orbit came several hours later: "The journey isn't over. They provided blood,
saliva and urine samples, underwent ultrasounds and bone scans, got flu shots
and more, all in the name of science. Kelly and his roommate for the past 340
days, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, checked out of the International
Space Station on Tuesday night, US time. Empty
gelatin capsules "It's incredibly important that we all work together to
make what is seemingly impossible, possible. Follow me as I rediscover
Earth!"Piloting the Soyuz capsule home for Kelly, 52, and Kornienko, 55, was the
much fresher and decade younger cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, whose space station
stint lasted the typical six months. Kornienko reached out and patted the inside
of the station before the hatches swung shut. Kelly heads to Houston with two
flight surgeons and several other NASA reps, arriving late Wednesday night.
Kornienko returns to his home in Star City, Russia, near Moscow, his wife,
daughter and toddler grandson.twitter. Follow me as I rediscover #Earth! See you
down below! pic. A few hours later, the Soyuz undocked and aimed for the barren
steppes of Kazakhstan as calls of "Godspeed" filled the Twitterverse.By the time
their capsule lands in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the pair will have traveled 144
million miles through space, circled the world 5,440 times and experienced
10,880 orbital sunrises and sunsets. Seems like a year ago.com/Qr7vB21Aw7—
Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) February 24, 2016For NASA, that mission possible
is Mars. Realizing this is likely his last journey, it was "a little
bittersweet" saying goodbye to his orbiting home.#Thanks for following our
#YearInSpace The journey isnt over. The world record of 438 days was set by a
Russian doctor during the mid-1990s.com/7byNy6fMG4— Scott Kelly
(@StationCDRKelly) March 1, 2016Kelly's closest US contender trails him by 125
days.
He acknowledged each of the 13 US, Russian, European and Japanese space
fliers with whom he and Kornienko lived during the past year.Not quite a year —
340 days to be precise, based on the Russian launch and landing schedule.Once on
the ground, Kelly and Kornienko split.twitter. #YearInSpace pic.Scientists are
hoping for more one-year subjects as NASA gears up for human expeditions to Mars
in the 2030s. Todays Sokol suit fit check."A really smart person said to me one
time, 'Teamwork makes the dreamwork in spaceflight,' and spaceflight is the
biggest team sport there is," Kelly said Monday.The choice of the pioneering
Kelly turned out to be a bonanza. His identical twin, retired astronaut Mark
Kelly, offered himself up as a medical guinea pig so researchers could study #
the differences between the genetic doubles, one in space and the other on the
ground. Russia continues to rule, however, when it comes to long-duration
spaceflight. That's where he'll be reunited with his two daughters, ages 21 and
12; his girlfriend, a NASA public affairs representative at Johnson Space
Center; and his brother."Those of us who dream of sending astronauts to deep
space thank Scott Kelly for his sacrifice," said Jim Green, director of
planetary science for NASA, "and are thrilled to welcome him home
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