NASA astronaut Scott Kelly crossed a threshold on Friday as he is now holding the record for the longest cumulative amount of time spent in space by any NASA astronaut. Scott Kelly is a veteran astronaut and one-year International Space Station crewmember.

The space agency said during the course of his four space trips, Kelly has spent 383 days in space, breaking NASA’s Mike Fincke’s record of 382 days. Kelly will return to Earth in March 2016, at that time he will have spent 522 days in total, in space during the course of his lifetime.

Kelly marked his 383rd day of living in space on Oct. 16, surpassing the previous record of 382 cumulative days. On Oct. 29, he will break the record for single longest spaceflight by an American astronaut with 216 consecutive days in space.

Presently, Kelly has reached a little more than halfway through the first yearlong mission of the Space Station with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. By the time the two crew-members will return home, they will have spent 342 consecutive days in space.

Kelly's year-long mission in space will end on March 3, 2016, "by which time he will have compiled 522 total days living in space during four missions," NASA said in a statement.

It is not going to be the last time that Kelly will break a spaceflight record during his course of time in orbit either. NASA said that on October 29 the astronaut will have spent 216 days in space under the one-year mission. With that he will exceed record of astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria for longest single spaceflight.

This mission is part of a number of experiments to help researchers learn more about how the body copes to long term space flight. He is accompanied by Russian astronaut Mikhail Kornienko, and the data collected will be used to assess crew performance and determine better interventions to reduce risks associated with space travel and future NASA explorations.

He's still got a ways to go to catch up to Gennady Padalka. The Russian cosmonaut has spent 879 days in space over five separate trips, more than any other person.

Video Courtesy: NASA

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 45 flight engineer Kjell Lindgren took some time away from his busy schedule to talk about life and research on the orbital laboratory during a pair of in-flight interviews Oct. 15 with WTOP Radio, Washington, and KUSA-TV, Denver. Lindgren arrived on the station in late July and will remain in orbit until he returns to Earth just before Christmas.

Scientists see the mission of Kelly and Kornienko as a significant milestone along the space agency’s journey to send people to the Red Planet and bring them home.

"Mars is obviously the logical next place to expand our capabilities and getting Earth crews there," Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin told CNBC in a recent interview. The famed astronaut and second man to walk on the moon's surface said sending humans to the planet would be an accomplishment "that's unparalleled in humanity."

One problem scientists found about sending people to the red planet is the long time it takes to get there. Aside from studying how people can adapt to long term space travel, experts are also looking into means to reduce travel time.

"Right now it's about an eight-month mission; we'd like to cut that in half," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden.

The two crew members of Space Station have been taking part in a number of experiments for helping out researchers in learning more about behavior of body during long-duration spaceflights.