Astronaut's 340-Day Mission Ends Successfully
With NASA tracking the descent, astronaut Scott Kelly and two cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan at 11:26 p.m. Eastern time March 1.
Scott Kelly, the American astronaut who has logged the most time working aboard the International Space Station, returned to Earth after a 340-day mission at 11:26 p.m. Eastern time March 1. With NASA tracking and reporting on the event in real time, the Soyuz capsule returning Kelly along with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, also of Roscosmos, landed in Kazakhstan.
NASA reported Kelly is scheduled to land at Houston's Ellington Field on March 2.
He now holds the record among U.S. astronauts for cumulative time in space, with 520 days. "During their record-setting mission, Kelly and Kornienko participated in a number of studies to provide new insights into how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation, and the stress of long-duration spaceflight, which will include the Journey to Mars. Kelly's twin brother, former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, participated in parallel twin studies on Earth to help scientists compare the effects on the body and mind in space," the space agency reported.
Kelly launched to the space station March 27, 2015, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He turned over command of the space station to Tim Kopra on Feb. 29 in preparation for the return trip.