Soyuz TMA-16M (L-R): Scott Kelly, Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Korniyenko
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-16M, launched March 27, 2015, transported members of Expedition 43 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Korniyenko (both of Roscosmos), and Scott Kelly (NASA).
Korniyenko and Kelly remained aboard the ISS for a year until March 2016, while Padalka retunred to Earth in September 2015, with Andreas Mogensen (ESA) and Aidyn Aimbetov (KazCosmos).
Soyuz TMA-01M crew (L-R): Scott Kelly, Aleksandr Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-01M, launched October 7, 2010, carried the members of Expedition 25 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Kaleri (RSA), Oleg Skripochka (RSA) and Scott Kelly (NASA). It was the first flight of the new TMA-M spacecraft, which Kelly praised for the upgrades.
They continued experiments on life sciences, remote sensing and activities of the European Space Agency. They returned to Earth in March 2011.
Soyuz TMA-18M, launched September 2, 2015 to the International Space Station, carried the first Danish astronaut Andreas Morgensen (ESA) and the first Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov into space. Its commander was cosmonaut Sergey Volkov (Roscosmos), who stayed aboard the ISS until March 2016 as part of Expedition 45. Morgensen and Aimbetov returned about 10 days later on Soyuz TMA-16M.
He returned with Scott Kelly (NASA) and Mikhail Korniyenko (Roscosmos), members of Expedition 46.
STS-118 crew (L-R): Richard Mastracchio, Barbara Morgan, Charles Hobaugh, Scott Kelly, Tracy Caldwell, Dafydd Williams, Alvin Drew.
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-118), launched August 8, 2007 to the International Space Station, was the first flight of Endeavour since the Columbia disaster in 2003. Its crew consisted of Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Charles Hobaugh, Tracy Caldwell, Richard Mastracchio, Dafydd Williams, Barbara Morgan and Alvin Drew.
Barbara Morgan had trained as a backup to Christa McAuliffe as NASA's Teacher in Space, but that ended with the Challenger disaster. However, when Morgan flew on STS-118, she was not considered a Mission Specialist Educator, but rather a Mission Specialist who had once been a teacher. During the mission, she spoke to school children on Earth.
Four EVAs were conducted by Rick Mastracchio, Dafydd Williams and Clayton Anderson, who had arrived on the ISS with STS-117.
Twins Mark Edward Kelly and Scott Joseph Kelly, born February 21, 1964 in Orange, New Jersey, are both astronauts, who were selected by NASA in 1986 and have logged many hours in space.
Mark Kelly is a veteran of four space shuttle flights. His first trip into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-108) to the International Space Station in December 2001 as pilot. His second missin was aboard Discovery (STS-121) also to the ISS as pilot in July 2006. He served as commander on his third flight back on Discovery (STS-124) May-June 2006. His fourth and final flight was on Endeavour (STS-134) as commander May-June 2011. He retired from NASA June 21, 2011 to help his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt, recover from her injuries.
Scott Kelly has flown two space shuttle missions and set a record in 2015 for the total number of accumulated days. This record was broken the following year by Jeff Williams, and the year after by Peggy Whitson.
His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) as pilot in December 1999, a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. His second mission was on Endeavour (STS-118) as commander to the ISS in August 2007. He flew to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-01M to the ISS with Commander Aleksandr Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka in October 7, 2010. He first served as flight engineer on Expedition 25, beginning the second part of the expedition. He became commander of Expedition 26 which began on November 10, 2010. He returned to Earth March 16, 2011.
His fourth and final mission was on Soyuz TMA-16M launched March 27, 2015 with Mikhail Kornienko, when he began a year-long mission aboard the ISS. He spent 11 months inspace, conducting 3 EVAs before he returned to Earth March 2016 on Soyuz TMA-18M. He was aboard the ISS for Expeditions 43-46. Upon his return, he retired from NASA in April 2016.
He published a book last year Endurance about his time in space.
Left to right; C. Michael Foale, Claude Nicollier, Scott J. Kelly, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., Jean-Francois Clervoy, John M. Grunsfeld and Steven L. Smith
Mission patch
Discovery blasted off December 19, 1999 on mission STS-103 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Her international crew consisted of Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Scott Kelly, mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Jean-Francois Clervoy (ESA), Michael Foale, Steven Smith and Claude Nicollier (ESA)
Four EVAs were scheduled but scaled back to only three. Smith and Grunsfeld each performed two, while Foale and Nicollier did one. Each EVA lasted a little over 8 hours.
Discovery attained the highest altitude for a Space Shuttle flight, 378 miles! It was the last solo flight for Discovery since the rest were to the International Space Station. It was the third time a crew has spent Christmas in space.
It was the fourth and final flight of Claude Nicollier, the first Swiss astronaut. It was Scott Kelly's inaugural flight.
