Astronaut Scott Kelly?? Leaves International Space Station, Returns To Earth After Nearly A Year

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has spent nearly a year on the International Space Station, but the 52-year-old is scheduled to return to Earth on March 1, reports the Daily Mail. Kelly, along with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, will both be landing in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule. The mission originally began on March 27, 2015, and lasted 340 days, having taken 5,440 laps around the planet and logging 143.8 million miles travelled.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCZDg9pAXlt/

This morning, Scott Kelly posted a picture of the final sunrise he would see while in space, telling his 877,000 Instagram followers, “Rise and shine! My last #sunrise from space then I gotta go.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCY5jANgXl-/

Scott Kelly has spent more time in space than any other American astronaut, with only a handful of Russians who have dedicated even more time than him. Kelly and Kornienko will immediately be evaluated by a medical team as soon as they land, and the two will spend hours having their physical and mental states tested to figure out what kind of affect living in space has had on them. Kelly’s caloric intake, his bone density, and temperature were all heavily monitored during his trek in space and are keeping the data to compare to his twin brother, Mark Kelly.

“NASA was going to do this mission anyway, and when they selected Scott for it that choice came with the nice bonus of Mark, his brother, a former astronaut who was willing to help in any way and was very happy to provide any data he could from his biomedical measurements,” Michael Massimino said, himself a former astronaut. “They are identical twins, so they collected a bunch of information from them before and they’ll compare it afterwards. It’s only two guys, but it’s one of those added bonuses.”

They’re calling it The Twin Study.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCBJEgpAXnU/

“We keep saying we would’ve liked to lock Mark up in a chamber and give him the same diet and exercises as Scott. That is one of the limitations of the studies,” adds Scott Smith, a NASA nutritionist.

Scott and Mark Kelly both took body samples and underwent various medical tests prior to Scott’s year on the International Space Station. The two underwent ultrasounds and MRIs, to gauge how healthy they were. But all of the juicy details of the One-Year Mission will not be available to read for at least six years after Scott Kelly lands back on Earth. So you may have to exercise some serious patience if you’re dying to know the specifics.

Scott Kelly got to conduct scientific experiments and participate in spacewalks, as well as celebrate with President Barack Obama, via satellite, and he’s shared plenty of snapshots of his journey on his social media.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCY5jANgXl-/

Of course, one of the more difficult things to experience during something like this is isolation from your loved ones. Amiko Kauderer, Scott Kelly’s girlfriend of seven years, is waiting in Texas for her boyfriend to return. Amiko is a public relations officer at NASA and has been supporting Scott’s NASA endeavour ever since he first left.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAxYd8QJEIB/

In the International Space Station, Scott Kelly slept in a phone booth-size living space, where he also had access to a computer. Outside of that, Kelly and the rest of the crew would be working in stations such as the greenhouse, or exercising in the gym. The privacy is something that Kelly appreciated, noting that it can reduce stress and fatigue. NASA crew members are usually given 35 hours a week to work on specific assignments and conduct research in varying disciplines to gain more scientific knowledge of the Earth, space, as well as biological and physical sciences.

[Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images]