Here’s How Astronauts Get Home From The Space Station
The hours and days after Scott Kelly detaches from the International Space Station will be super busy.
On Tuesday, astronaut Scott Kelly will leave the International Space Station after spending a full year in orbit.
NASA / Via blogs.nasa.gov
First, Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov will strap themselves in to a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station.
A Soyuz is a capsule that the Russian space agency uses to ferry people to and from the station. Things get pretty tight inside.
NASA
At 4:40 p.m. ET, the hatch to the Soyuz will be closed and the crew will perform a series of leak checks to make sure everything is ready to go.
NASA