American, Russian leave Earth this week for year in space
byMarcia Dunn
An American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut are moving into the International Space Station this week and staying for an entire year.
After more than two years of training, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko are eager to get going. It will be the longest space mission ever for NASA, and the longest in almost two decades for the Russian Space Agency, which holds the record at 14 months.
Their Soyuz rocket is scheduled to blast off from Kazakhstan on Friday afternoon in the U.S. (early Saturday morning in Kazakhstan.)
The world's space agencies want to know how the body adapts to an entire year of weightlessness before committing to even longer Mars expeditions. The typical stint at the space station is six months.
Let us know if there is a problem with our content
Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.
For general inquiries, please use our contact form.
For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience
We keep our content available to everyone.
Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process
and policies.
Editors
have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
Phys.org™ is a leading web-based science, research and technology news service which covers a full range of topics.
Phys.org is a part of Science X network.
With a global reach of over 10 million monthly readers and featuring dedicated websites for science (Phys.org),
technology (Tech Xplore) and medical research (Medical Xpress),
the Science X network is one of the largest online communities for science-minded people.