Astronaut Safely Return Back To Earth After A Year In Space

After spending a year in space an American astronaut has safely return back to Earth at the end of a ground-breaking experiment that could see mankind edging closer to travelling to Mars.

Fifty-two year old Scott Kelly boarded the rocket on March 27 accompanied by Russian Mikhail Korniyenko. Both men were sent to the International Space Station for a year so that scientists could study the impact of such a long duration in space on their bodies.

Nasa ultimately is using the tests to see whether mankind could endure the journey to Mars.

Others have spent longer in space Valeri Polyakov, a Russian, spent 437 days in orbit, compared to the 340 days that the duo will have spent.

But what is most exciting to scientists is the fact that Mr Kelly is an identical twin, and his brother Mark also an astronaut is acting as a control, remaining on land to compare the two men’s bodies after a year. The men are the only siblings to have both been in space. Mark Kelly is married to Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who survived being shot in the head in January 2011.