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| Scott Kelly inside the Cupola, a special module which provides a 360-degree viewing of the Earth and the space station, July 12, 2015. REUTERS/NASA |
Topics: International Space Station, Mars, NASA, Planetary Science, Space, Space Exploration, Spaceflight
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko headed back toward Earth on Tuesday after nearly a year aboard the International Space Station, ending a record-long U.S. spaceflight intended to pave the way for human travel to Mars.
The men, accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, strapped themselves inside a Russian Soyuz capsule and departed the station at 8:02 p.m. EST (0102 GMT on Wednesday).
They are expected to make a parachute landing in Kazakhstan at 11:25 p.m. EST (0425 GMT on Wednesday).
Kelly and Kornienko have been aboard the space station for 340 days, about twice as long as previous crews. Their flight sets a record for the space station and for the longest U.S. space mission.
Reuters Science: Station crew heads home after record U.S. spaceflight, Irene Klotz
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