Next give up Mars ? Maybe . Two astronaut who have spent a year on the International Space Station ( ISS ) have repay to Earth , and it ’s desire that the research gained from this mission could be priceless for future missions to the Red Planet .
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko land in Kazakhstan at 11:26 p.m. EST last night ( 4:26 a.m. this morning ) conform to a 340 - day stay aboard the ISS . This is the long unmarried mission ever to the place station . Russian astronaut Sergey Volkov also returned , having expend a short six months on the place , which is the common stay for crews on the ISS .
“ Scott Kelly ’s one - year mission aboard the International Space Station has helped to supercharge deep blank space geographic expedition and America ’s Journey to Mars , ” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden say in astatementafter the landing . “ Scott has become the first American spaceman to spend a year in place , and in so doing , helped us take one giant leap toward order boots on Mars . ”
The Soyuz capsule landed exactly on docket . NASA / Bill Ingalls
During their sentence on the place , Kelly and Kornienko ( visualize below ) took part in more than 400 experiment , many of which were project to see how astronauts would cope with the longer hitch required with deputation to Mars . These included investigating into how the human body hook with weightlessness , isolation , and the additional radioactivity from spacefaring .
To help in this inquiry , Scott Kelly ’s superposable twin buddy Mark , a former spaceman , remained on Earth and took part in paralleltwin studiesto his chum . scientist hope to examine how the genial and physical attribute of the two twins have differed . Tests will continue for month , or even years , specially as os loss can take three yr to recoup .
NASA presently has a provisional finish of send humans on return trips to Mars in the 2030s . But there are a huge number of unknowns regarding such mission , consider the astronaut will be off Earth for up to three geezerhood – which include launch , transit time to Mars , geographic expedition action on the surface , and the return to Earth .
Image in text edition : Kelly was joined on his one - class deputation by Mikhail Kornienko , render . NASA / Bill Ingalls
NASA hop enquiry from the mission could aid next missions to Mars . NASA
Kelly will perform a few labor , such as running through an obstruction form and opening hatching , to see how he has coped with his stay in microgravity . It ’s expected to take him45 daysto return to full fitness .
During their time on the station , Kelly and Kornienko saw six resupply spacecraft arrive , performed a few spacewalks between them , and evengrew lettuceon the ISS for the first prison term . Kelly also became wide get laid for his fantastic imagery of Earth , which you could check out on hisTwitter account .
Kelly and Kornienko were join by eight other crew members at various metre on their one - year mission . But their 340 - 24-hour interval mission , although impressive , only issue forth in at fourth on the list of foresightful single space travel foreign mission . In first is Russian spaceman Valeri Polyakov , who spend 437 days aboard the Mir space station from January 1994 to March 1995 .
Scott Kelly tweeted the concluding parting before leave the ISS
My last#sunrisefrom space ! 5 of 5.#YearInSpacepic.twitter.com / p9ZOvS4HcN
— Scott Kelly ( @StationCDRKelly)March 1 , 2016
image viaFlickr(CC BY - NC - ND 2.0 )
