NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned dwelling safely on Wednesday after the longest single house mission by an American astronaut.
Vande Hei’s keep aboard the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) lasted 355 days, beating the earlier file set by Scott Kelly in 2016 by 15 days.
The 55-year-old American traveled dwelling aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft alongside cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, whose mission additionally lasted 355 days, and Anton Shkaplerov.
Round 4 hours after undocking from the ISS, the trio landed in a distant space southeast of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 7:28 a.m. ET (5:28 p.m. native time) on Wednesday, March 31.
.@Astro_Sabot and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov landed again on Earth contained in the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship at present at 7:28am ET. Extra… https://t.co/i9QtpYxWGE pic.twitter.com/EazuiF9Ejr
— Worldwide Area Station (@Space_Station) March 30, 2022
Vande Hei seemed effectively as a crew transferred him from the Soyuz capsule to a ready helicopter for the primary leg of his journey again to the U.S.
Welcome dwelling, @Astro_Sabot!
Setting the file for longest single NASA spaceflight, Mark Vande Hei spent 355 days off the planet. He contributed to a whole bunch of science experiments that profit life on Earth and can assist form future deep house missions: https://t.co/pDrxnJsCoU pic.twitter.com/c29QGWS1QJ
— NASA (@NASA) March 30, 2022
Later within the day, the record-breaking astronaut despatched a message to his followers on social media, saying: “Improbable place, occupied by wonderful folks, working for all of humanity. I’ll eternally cherish the reminiscences of serving on the Worldwide Area Station. Now, although, I’m thrilled to be again on Mom Earth!”
Improbable place, occupied by wonderful folks, working for all of humanity. I’ll eternally cherish the reminiscences of serving on the Worldwide Area Station. Now, although, I’m thrilled to be again on Mom Earth! pic.twitter.com/pv0V2DqkXZ
— Mark T. Vande Hei (@Astro_Sabot) March 30, 2022
Requested just lately what he needed to do as soon as he was again on terra firma, Vande Hei mentioned he was decided to “get exterior as a lot as potential,” including, “I’ve had an indoor job 24/7 for nearly a 12 months so I’m wanting ahead to being exterior it doesn’t matter what type of climate.”
When Vande Hei began his mission in April 2021, he was solely anticipating to remain aboard the orbiting outpost for six months, the same old size of an ISS mission. However modifications to the crew rotation plan noticed his and Dubrov’s mission prolonged to nearly a full 12 months.
When the NASA astronaut realized in September that his mission can be prolonged by one other six months and that it could result in a brand new file, a modest Vande Hei regarded the endeavor as a crew effort, saying: “I don’t suppose it’s a file that I might even attribute to me, it’s a file that I might attribute to our house program. I count on this file to be damaged, and that shall be an additional success for our house program.”
His mission has offered scientists with numerous information that may assist them research the consequences on the human physique and thoughts of extended durations in house as NASA prepares for long-duration missions involving the moon and Mars.
Though Vande Hei now holds the file for the longest steady house mission by an American, the size of his journey is effectively wanting the file for the longest steady keep in house, which was set by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov when he spent 437 days aboard the Mir house station within the mid-Nineties.
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