Florida Democratic Senator and former astronaut Bill Nelson is welcoming NASA’s Commander Scott Kelly back home.
Kelly returned to Earth Tuesday after a record setting year-long mission aboard the International Space Station.
"But Commander Kelly’s accomplishment, while notable in its own right, is serving a greater purpose. NASA is preparing to undertake one of the greatest technological challenges in human history: a voyage to the planet Mars," he said.
While in space, Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko conducted research to aid NASA’s journey to Mars. Senator Nelson himself went to space in 1986 aboard the shuttle Columbia.