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-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.
Gennady Padalka, born June 21, 1958, holds the current record for the longest time spent in space, 879 days. That's time spent on both Mir and the International Space Station. He attained the rank of colonel in the Russian Air Force.
His first flight into space was aboard Soyuz TM-28 in August 1998 as commander as part of Mir expedition EO-26. He returned to Earth in February 1999.
His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-4 in April 2004 as commander to the ISS as part of Expedition 9.
His third flight was on Soyuz TMA-14 in March 2009 as commander of Expeditions 19 and 20 on the ISS. During the mission, he logged almost 16 hours of EVA time.
His fourth flight was on Soyuz TMA-04M in May 2012 as flight engineer for Expedition 31 and then commander of Expedition 32.
His fifth and final flight was about Soyuz TMA-16M in March 2015 as commander for Expeditions 43 and 44.
Andreas Mogensen, born November 2, 1976 in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the first Danish astronaut, from the European Space Agency. He spent almost ten days in space aboard the International Space Station. His mission started aboard Soyuz TMA-18M as flight engineer in September 2016. He returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-16M.
In 2014, he participated in NASA's Aquarius Underwater Laboratory as part of expedition NEEMO 19, which lasted 7 days.
Toktar Aubakirov, born July 27, 1946 in Kazakhstan, is a cosmonaut and former Air Force pilot. He went into space aboard Soyuz TM-13 in October 1991 to Mir. He returned to Earth about a week later aboard Soyuz TM-12.
Since Kazakhstan wasn't entirely independent of Russia at the time of his flight, he is officially Kazakhstan's first cosmonaut. The official first Kazakhstani cosmonaut is Aidyn Aimbetov, born July 27, 1972 in Kazakhstan. He went aboard Soyuz TMA-18M to the International Space Station in September 2015. He remained aboard for almost 10 days and returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-16M.
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.
