--- description: U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to American astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren aboard the International Space Station. title: President Obama Calls the International Space Station image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [space travel](/tag/space-travel/) ## space travel Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Come in International Space Station, This is President Barack Obama' by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 20, 2015 2:40 AM CUT by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 20, 2015 2:40 AM CUT U.S. President Barack Obama made an ultra long-distance call to American astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren aboard the International Space Station on Monday. The President spoke to the astronauts ahead of astronomy night at the White House, praising their inspiring work and stellar [Instagram feed](https://instagram.com/stationcdrkelly/?hl=en "undefined"). More than halfway through his [one-year mission](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/ "undefined"), Kelly just set an American [record](http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/scott-kelly-becomes-us-astronaut-to-spend-the-most-time-in-space "undefined") for the cumulative number of days in space and next week he will surpass the single-longest spaceflight record. During the marathon voyage, Kelly and his team will research how our bodies and minds adjust to long-duration spaceflight and conduct 400 experiments to prepare for a “journey to mars.” Follow TIME’s ongoing coverage of Kelly’s year in space [here](http://time.com/space "undefined"). > [](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/656263630741073920) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4079208/international-space-station-barack-obama-scott-kelly/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4079208/international-space-station-barack-obama-scott-kelly/"},"headline":"'Come in International Space Station, This is President Barack Obama'","datePublished":"2015-10-20T02:40:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:55:08.740Z","description":"The President speaks to astronauts ahead of astronomy night at the White House","url":"https://time.com/4079208/international-space-station-barack-obama-scott-kelly/","keywords":["space travel","Barack Obama","Space","Science topic","international space station","scott kelly"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Rivett-Carnac","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"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":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space-travel/","name":"space travel"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4079208/international-space-station-barack-obama-scott-kelly/","name":"'Come in International Space Station, This is President Barack Obama'"}}]}] ```