Kelly and Korniyenko launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 27, 2015[18][3] and will land in Kazakhstan in spring 2016. Kelly and Korniyenko already have a connection; Kelly was a backup crew member for the station's Expedition 23/24 crews, where Korniyenko served as a flight engineer. The goal of their year-long expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory is to understand better how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space.[19] Data from the 12-month expedition will help inform current assessments of crew performance and health and will determine better and validate countermeasures to reduce the risks associated with future exploration as NASA plans for missions around the moon, an asteroid and ultimately Mars.[20] Part of this research also includes a comparative study on the genetic effects of spaceflight with Scott’s twin brother Mark as the ground control subject.