Astronaut Scott Kelly returns to Earth after year in space

The 52-year-old is due to leave the International Space Station after 340 days together with his colleague Mikhail Kornienko and catch a ride back to Earth on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Russian Federation continues to rule, however, when it comes to long-duration spaceflight with the world record of 438 days.

Mr Kelly and Mr Kornienko, 55, arrived at the ISS on March 27, 2015.

The results will be used to help plan for human flights to Mars.

In addition to setting the American record for longest total time spent in space and longest consecutive time spent in space, Kelly spent the year taking some unbelievable pictures, going on space walks, conducting experiments and even being a living experiment.

“I’ve been up here for a really long time and sometimes, when I think about it, I feel like I’ve lived my whole life up here”. His identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, offered himself up as a medical guinea pig so researchers could study the differences between the genetic doubles, one in space and the other on the ground.

Kelly will be greeted back in Houston, Texas Wednesday by Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s wife, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden and John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. Kornienko returns to his home in Star City, Russia, near Moscow, his wife, daughter and toddler grandson. NASA has been collecting data on Scott and comparing it to his brother’s information in order to determine the various impacts extended time spent in space can have on the body. He’ll have plenty of pictures, at least, for the scrapbook – he posted 1,000 dramatic, color-drenched pictures of Earth on his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

To commemorate his epic journey 240 miles above the Earth, Kelly has been tweeting out some fantastic photos to share the incredible views he’s had right outside his window. “I hope I’ve added to our spaceflight program”.

Sending an astronaut into space to live for almost a year on the ISS is one of the most ambitious missions NASA has ever launched in its efforts to eventually send humans to Mars.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is coming home after a very long time away.