{"id":19446,"date":"2016-03-02T01:35:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T17:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/thumbs-up-astronaut-scott-kelly-returns-to-earth-after-year-in-space\/"},"modified":"2016-03-02T01:35:13","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T17:35:13","slug":"thumbs-up-astronaut-scott-kelly-returns-to-earth-after-year-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/thumbs-up-astronaut-scott-kelly-returns-to-earth-after-year-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Thumbs up! Astronaut Scott Kelly returns to Earth after year in space"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Scott
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly flashes two thumbs-up signs after his return to Earth from the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Capping off a year in space, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly breathed earthly air for the first time in 340 days today after a successful, safe trip from the International Space Station to the steppes of Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

Since last March\u2019s blastoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the 52-year-old Kelly circled the planet more than 5,440 times, saw more than 10,800 orbital sunrises and sunsets, and put almost 144 million miles on his cosmic odometer.<\/p>\n

The mission set a U.S. record for continuous spaceflight and blazed a trail for much longer trips to Mars and back. But to get a true sense of how long Kelly has been in space, consider this: The last time he was on Earth, Jeb Bush was the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s Super Tuesday ride began when he climbed into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with two crewmates: Russia\u2019s Mikhail Kornienko, who also finished up a 340-day stay; and Sergei Volkov, who has been in orbit for a mere 182 days. The Soyuz backed away from the station right on time, at 5:02 p.m. PT, and landed in Kazakhstan at 8:26 p.m. PT (10:26 a.m. local time March 2).<\/p>\n