Padalka will return to Earth in September, becoming the world's most experienced spaceman in the process with 878 days in space over five missions. From behind protective glass, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, left, shares a pre-launch fist-bump with his twin brother, former astronaut Mark Kelly, before beginning a one-year-mission on the International Space Station. "Yeah, and still be awake!" Scott quipped. "I think you guys walked out of that building (crew quarters) about 11 hours or so ago, and it's pretty incredible that in 11 hours, you can walk out of a building and be where you are right now," Mark said. "It was really impressive from the inside, too," Scott replied from orbit. Kelly's twin brother Mark, a retired shuttle astronaut who will participate in medical research on the ground throughout the mission, said the Soyuz launch was "pretty impressive." "We're going to be up here a long time, but I couldn't be doing it with a better guy." That's for you and also for your brother, Misha (Kornienko)." "Good company, on a long journey, makes the way seem shorter. "I have just one reminder for you," said Kelly's girlfriend, Amiko Kauderer. The combined crew then floated into the Zvezda command module for a traditional video conference with friends and family standing by at Baikonur. Back row: Samantha Cristoforetti, Anton Shkaplerov and Terry Virts. Front row, left to right: Kelly, Padalka and Kornienko.
The combined space station crew gathered in the Zvezda command module shortly after the docking of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft carrying Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly to the lab complex. Two hours later, after extensive leak checks, hatches were opened and Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti welcomed their new crewmates aboard with hugs and handshakes. The International Space Station passed 260 miles above the launch site just a few moments earlier and after a smooth eight-minute 45-second climb to orbit, the Soyuz spacecraft was released from its upper stage booster, solar wings and navigation antennas deployed and the crew set off after its quarry. A Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft launches to the International Space Station with NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka on board Saturday, March 28, 2015, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Saturday local time), pushing the booster away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With spacecraft commander Gennady Padalka strapped into the command module's center seat, flanked on the left by flight engineer Kornienko and on the right by Kelly, the Soyuz TMA-16M rocket's main engines ignited with a roar at 3:42:57 p.m. A workhorse Soyuz booster thundered to life and climbed into a dark Kazakh sky Friday, carrying NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko on a four-orbit voyage to the International Space Station to kick off a marathon 342-day mission, the longest flight ever attempted by an American.
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