--- title: Astronauts Return to Earth: Watch Live Stream Online description: Space station astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Misha Kornienko and Sergei Volkov are ready to make their journey home canonical: https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-01T14:00:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:49:31.791Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch Live: Astronauts Return to Earth After a Year in Space og:description: Space station astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Misha Kornienko and Sergei Volkov are ready to make their journey home og:url: https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaef9331e6073854e/69887fa4bc6cfc209b3dbf13/scott-kelly-astronaut-return-toearth-year-in-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: CORRECTION US Space Record og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Live: Astronauts Return to Earth After a Year in Space twitter:description: Space station astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Misha Kornienko and Sergei Volkov are ready to make their journey home twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaef9331e6073854e/69887fa4bc6cfc209b3dbf13/scott-kelly-astronaut-return-toearth-year-in-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Live: Astronauts Return to Earth After a Year in Space > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=9e2022b7-5b73-4a64-a490-c38d7f678217&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko Return To Earth After One Year In Space [Watch (HLS stream): Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko Return To Earth After One Year In Space](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TjdGegib.m3u8) (4:07)  _Published 2016-03-02_  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Mar 1, 2016 2:00 PM UTC  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Mar 1, 2016 2:00 PM UTC No return to Earth in any spacecraft is over until it’s over. That’s especially so if the spacecraft you’re talking about is the Soyuz, the hard-working, iron-man of Russia’s space fleet. Soyuz boosters and spacecraft have been flying since the 1960s, covering a stretch that has seen the U.S. fly—and retire—the Geminis, Apollos and space shuttles. But the ruggedness of the Soyuz ships does not mean a ride home in one is easy, a fact that space station astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergei Volkov will learn anew on Tuesday at about 4:15 p.m. E.T., when they climb into their Soyuz to begin [the seven-hour process](http://time.com/4240956/soyuz-recovery-year-in-space/) that will [culminate in their thumping down on the very snowy steppes of Kazakhstan](http://time.com/4240232/scott-kelly-soyuz-year-in-space-malikhov-rescue/) just before midnight. Along the way, they will experience a harrowing, high-speed ride that Kelly has compared to “going over Niagara Falls in a barrel—that’s on fire.” TIME will be live-streaming the entire reentry process here, beginning at 4:15 p.m. The NASA livestream will occasionally switch on and off through the afternoon and evening, but during those times you’ll be able to automatically watch highlights above.  TIME has been following the year-long mission of cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Scott Kelly, in a video series that can be viewed [here](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/). A YEAR IN SPACE, a documentary film by TIME and PBS, premieres Wednesday, March 2 at 8 p.m. E.T. on PBS. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:04] And getting a quick look, now a live view inside of the [00:08] station. And there you can see Scott Kelly on the right, [00:11] Sergey Volkov in the middle and Mikhail Korniyenko on [00:14] the left. They're getting ready to climb into their Soyuz [00:16] craft and close the hatches. In just a few minutes [00:20] Definitely a pretty significant moment for the departing [00:23] year- long crew members, who have been on board [00:25] the International Space Station since March 27th of last [00:28] year. So, obviously, very big steps for them to now [00:32] depart what's been their home for the last, roughly, 12 [00:35] months, and now get ready to make their way back [00:38] down to Earth. Visiting vehicle officer reporting team [00:42] telemetry dash closed at 3: 43 PM central time, [00:46] 4: 43: PM eastern, while the station is flying just about [00:50] 252 statued miles to the north of Malaysia. Undocking [00:55] has occurred, 7: 02 PM central time, it's [00:59] 8: 02 PM eastern time All the stations [01:03] flying just over the Eastern part of Mongolia. [01:06] [ UNKNOWN ], Scott Kelly, Sergei Volkov, on their way [01:09] home. As you can see, initial rate of departure very [01:13] slow back in the wait, only one tenth of a meter per [01:15] second. It's gonna continue at this pace until it's about [01:19] 50 feet away from the International Space Station. At [01:22] which point it will execute the first of two separation [01:25] burns, and the first separation burn occurring. The [01:29] visiting vehicle officer here in Houston confirming the [01:31] second burn has begun. You can see the orbiting [01:35] laboratory in In full view. It takes right [01:39] around 3 hours and 24 minutes from undocking to [01:43] landing to occur. The pair in their year long mission [01:48] will have completed right around 5, 440 [01:52] orbits of the Earth in that distance traveling Over [01:56] 143 million miles around our globe. Coincidentally [02:01] a journey to Mars would be right around 140 million [02:05] miles, as this is a mission dedicated towards improving [02:10] humanity's knowledge of how our bodies change in [02:12] space to continue to prepare us for that journey. So [02:15] again at this point, the de- orbit burn underway. The [02:19] Soyuz TMA- 18M spacecraft, the burn 4 minutes, 49 [02:23] seconds in planned duration. Visiting vehicle officer [02:26] reporting the telemetry, everything looks good, [02:29] everything continuing to function as expected with the [02:33] Soyuz vehicle's thrusters for this 4 minute, 49 second [02:36] burn. And the visiting vehicle of start here mesh control [02:39] Heusen. Reporting the burden complete and getting [02:43] confirmation front he visiting vehicle officer that the [02:46] separation of modules has occurred. A confirmation [02:50] coming right at the top of the hour 10: 00 PM Central [02:53] Eleven pm Eastern time, and so at this point the Soyuz [02:58] craft descending under parachutes. And now getting [03:01] reports in from the field that SAR teams, the search [03:05] and recovery teams do have visual of the capsule. And [03:10] we just got our confirmation the capsule landed at [03:15] 10: 26pm Central time, 11: 26 PM eastern time. [03:19] That's Sergei [ INAUDIBLE ] the Soviet commander [03:22] having completed his third flight in to space. Scott Kelly [03:25] back on mother earth after 340 days in space Dan. [03:29] Thumbs up. And we've got a great view of him now. [03:34] The Folks here in Mission Control Houston letting out a [03:37] very big cheer and we're seeing a big smile from Scott [03:41] Kelly there. And back over at the capsule we can see [03:46] Mikhail Kornienko, the other one- year crew member, [03:48] outside the capsule, getting ready to get carried over [03:50] as well. So again, there you have it. All three crew [03:54] members safely out of their Soyuz craft. Mikhail [03:57] Kornienko there on the left, Sergey Volkov in the [04:00] center, and on the right NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, [04:03] back on Earth after 340 days in space. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/"},"headline":"Watch Live: Astronauts Return to Earth After a Year in Space","datePublished":"2016-03-01T14:00:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:49:31.791Z","description":"Space station astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Misha Kornienko and Sergei Volkov are ready to make their journey home","url":"https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/","keywords":["A Year In Space","NASA","Kazakhstan","scott kelly"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaef9331e6073854e/69887fa4bc6cfc209b3dbf13/scott-kelly-astronaut-return-toearth-year-in-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaef9331e6073854e/69887fa4bc6cfc209b3dbf13/scott-kelly-astronaut-return-toearth-year-in-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CORRECTION US Space Record","caption":"Scott Kelly poses for a selfie photo in the \"Cupola\" of the International Space Station.","creditText":"Scott Kelly—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/a-year-in-space/","name":"A Year In Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/","name":"Watch Live: Astronauts Return to Earth After a Year in Space"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko Return To Earth After One Year In Space","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/TjdGegib/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-02T22:11:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TjdGegib.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/","duration":"PT4M7S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4240847/scott-kelly-astronaut-space-return-earth-watch-live-stream-online/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```