Soyuz TMA-18M floats toward touchdown near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko and Soyuz commander Sergey Volkov. Kelly and Kornienko spent nearly a year in space as early scientific preparation for the prolonged weightlessness of an eventual human mission to Mars.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Soyuz hangs suspended beneath its parachute after reentry with the ISS Expedition 46 crew members on board. NASA’s Scott Kelly commanded the expedition, in addition to his role as test subject for long-duration spaceflight.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Russian Mi-8 helicopters from the Soyuz rescue force converge on the landing site after Soyuz TMA-18M touched down with its three passengers from the space station.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko (left) and Sergey Volkov (center) join NASA’s Scott Kelly in chairs minutes after touchdown in the nearby Soyuz spacecraft. Medical personnel ensure they are healthy after the abrupt return to gravity.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Rescue forces carry Mikhail Kornienko to a medical tent for a quick physical. While Valeri Polyakov, a physician at Moscow’s Institute of Biomedical Problems, spent almost 438 days on the Mir orbital station in 1994-95, modern medical equipment on the ISS gave researchers more detailed data on the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Scott Kelly appeared fit and healthy after 340 days in space. He flew on to Houston after the landing, where he was greeted by his identical twin, Mark, also an astronaut. Researchers used Mark as a scientific control to gauge genetic effects of prolonged spaceflight and will continue to study them as Scott readapts to Earth’s gravity.
Astronaut Scott Kelly and Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth March 3 after 340 days on the International Space Station to study the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the body. NASA photographer Bill Ingalls was on hand in Kazakhstan to record the historic landing.