US astronaut Scott Kelly, the champion will leave NASA in April – TASS

NEW YORK, March 12. / Corr. Ivan Pil’shchikov TASS /. Scott Kelly, who became a champion among American astronauts on the length of stay in a space mission, NASA will leave on April 1. This was said in a Friday statement, the Johnson Space Center in Houston (Texas)

“After his retirement, Kelly will continue to participate in research related to its annual expedition” -. The document says. NASA scientists also continue to find out what differences there were between the astronaut during a 11-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and his stay on Earth twin brother Mark.

“The annual comic expedition became a serious test for all those who took part in it, it has provided a unique experience and given time to think about what will be my next step in regard to the expansion of our capabilities in space and on Earth “- are the words of Kelly in a statement. The astronaut also said he was happy to interact “with a new generation of leaders in the field of science and technology.” Where exactly he plans to work in the future, is not specified.

Manual Johnson Space Center celebrated the outstanding achievements of Kelly, and stressed that he helped bring the possibility of a manned flight to Mars.

Kelly during an expedition aboard the orbital complex together with the Russians Mikhail Kornienko and Sergei Volkov. All of them returned to Earth last week. March 2 they had successfully landed in Kazakhstan. Kornienko and Kelly went to the flight of 27 March 2015. On orbit they were launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) on board the spaceship “Soyuz TMA-16M”. By the time of departure of the astronauts stayed at the station for a total of 340 days. The third member of the crew Volkov spent 182 days on the ISS.

For the US, it was the first experience of such a long space mission. Meanwhile, the Soviet and Russian cosmonauts have worked in orbit for a year. In 1999, Sergey Avdeev made a flight lasting 379 days. And in 1995, Valery Polyakov was in orbit 437 days and installed in such a way the world record of the longest spaceflight.