After 340 weightless days, Scott Kelly is finally back on Earth. Strapped into a Russian Soyuz capsule, the NASA astronaut and his fellow crew member, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, landed safely in Kazakhstan just before midnight Eastern time on March 1.
Kelly and Kornienko lived aboard the International Space Station for a little less than a year. And now, as the American who has spent the most consecutive days in space, Kelly’s experience will, among other things, help NASA gain more insights into the effects of long-term weightlessness, a stepping stone to Mars.
During his year in space, Kelly conducted scientific experiments, exercised to keep his bones and muscles strong in zero gravity, and snapped photos of his celestial views and Earth’s wonderfully diverse geography. In honor of the Kelly’s historic mission and welcomed homecoming, here is a selection of the astronaut’s most awe-inspiring photos, some of which have been color-enhanced by NASA, from his year in space.
