The first day of spring came with more excitement for NASA than for us, mere mortals. Scott Kelly, U.S astronaut and his fellow Russian cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko, witnessed the last sunrise in space, after a year long mission on the International Space Station.
Both astronauts descented from 250 miles high in a fiery metal cage at the whooping speed of 17,000 miles per hour! For the past 340 days, these space heroes grew lettuce, drank coffee and took glorious pictures of our world. On his return back home, Kelly will have registered 520 days in space, over four flights, and with those, broke two American records: one for most consecutive days spent in space and the second, for the longest period spent in space.
At around 10.34 pm, the de-orbit burn would occur, slowing the spacecraft and angling towards Earth. Parachutes opened when the Soyuz craft was at a fifteen minutes distance from landing, with two of out three engines located at the bottom of the vehicle firing up a few seconds before touchdown to slow the landing. Arrival destination: Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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