The One 12 months crew alongside their Soyuz commander Sergey Volkov bid farewell to the Worldwide Area Station because the hatches between the station and the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft had been closed at 9:43 p.m. GMT on March 1.
| 12 months in Area crew members Kelly and Kornienko shortly after touchdown in Kazakhstan after spending 340 days aboard the Worldwide Area Station. credit score: NASA/Invoice Ingalls |
The Soyuz craft departed the complicated a few hours later when it undocked from the area station’s Poisk module at 1:02 a.m. on the morning of March 2.
Following a sequence of orbital maneuvers, the Soyuz carried out its de-orbit burn to cut back the spacecraft’s velocity and altitude for a fiery re-entry by the Earth’s environment.
Simply over three hours after departing the ISS, Volkov, Kelly and Kornienko landed their automobile within the distant steppe of Kazakhstan at 4:26 a.m. – bringing the 12 months in Area mission to an finish. The crew had been then positioned in reclining chairs subsequent to their Soyuz earlier than being carried a brief distance to an awaiting medical tent to get the crew out of their Sokol launch and entry fits to take part in short subject exams.
These subject check research are performed to see the impact that long run weightlessness has on the astronaut’s skill to face from a seated place, stroll by obstacles and stand upright. It will assist investigators additional perceive what future area farers will be capable of do as soon as they’ve landed on Mars having spent months in a weightless commute.
In a latest interview with NASA TV, Kelly was requested what he thought was the largest accomplishment of this flight – “We completely completed an unbelievable quantity of labor each on the US Operational Phase and on the Russian Phase.”
“Our time right here has demonstrated not solely the potential for us to remain in area for a very long time and to do effectively, but in addition the potential of floor groups to assist us, the sytsems that hold us alive and the resuspply in a approach that’s ahead pondering in the direction of a possible flight to Mars. We have collected a variety of knowledge throughout our time right here and that knowledge is one thing that is going to be analysed later.. however I believe it has been an incredible success and an actual privilege to a part of it.”
Over the previous 340 days, Kelly and Kornienko:
- Accomplished 5,440 orbits of the Earth.
- Ran over 640 miles on the station’s treadmill.
- Travelled 143,846,525 miles – roughly the space from Earth to Mars. A return journey to the purple planet is anticipated to final 500 days or longer.
- Carried out over 400 scientific experiments in the course of the course of their stint aboard the complicated.
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| Coming Dwelling: Kelly, Volkov and Kornienko tightly packed inside their Soyuz credit score: NASA |
“Misha and I are just one knowledge level. You want much more numbers to attract particular conclusions however I am hoping what we discover is a variety of info that can assist us ultimately proceed on our path towards Mars.”
One other distinctive investigation performed over the previous yr is the Twins Research. Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, Scott Kelly’s an identical twin has served because the management topic for his brother on orbit. This examine hopes to analyze if the impact of long-duration spaceflight has any distinction on the physique on a genetic stage.
At this time’s touchdown brings to an finish the fourth spaceflight for Scott Kelly who has now logged 520 days in area and units the report for probably the most time in area for an American. Mikhail Kornienko now logs 516 throughout two area station expeditions. Soyuz commander Sergey Volkov returns to Earth with 548 days in area throughout three long-duration stays aboard the Worldwide Area Station.
The departure of the Soyuz marked the official starting of Expedition 47 after Kelly handed over the reigns of the orbiting laboratory to Tim Kopra of NASA. Kopra stays aboard the station with cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and ESA astronaut Tim Peake.
The trio can be joined on March 19 when the Soyuz TMA-20M docks to the vacant docking port on Poisk – bringing Alexei Ovchinin, Oleg Skripochka and Jeff Williams to the station for a six month mission.
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