Agencies choose yearlong crew for International Space Station

NASA, Nov 28: NASA and Roscosmos have chosen the crew for a year long stay at the International Space Station. Data collected may help in future manned exploration of the solar system.

Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko have been chosen by NASA and Roscosmos respectively. The two are veterans of ISS spaceflight and were chosen for their station experience and skill.

"Their skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission's requirements. The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit" said NASA administrator William Gerstenmaier.

The pair are to launch sometime in the spring of 2015 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and return in spring 2016. Possible NASA deep space mission destinations include near earth asteroids, the Moon, and Mars.