The man who reached 1000 days in space

Who is it about? From Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko. He is the man who reached 1000 days in space. No other human being did it before. It is a record that he broke aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Kononenko, 59, set the new mark at 21:00:20 GMT. He achieved it after five missions to the orbital platform. The Russian’s long stay on the ISS will allow scientists to know more about its physiological effects on the body. For example, muscle degeneration, bone loss, worsening vision and vertigo.

The man who reached 1000 days in space, Oleg Kononenko.
The man who reached 1000 days in space, Oleg Kononenko.

almost unbeatable

Kononenko will turn 60 in two weeks. He is a record man. On February 4 he had already become the cosmonaut with the longest time in outer space. He accumulated 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds. Until then, the brand was held by the legendary Russian astronaut Guennadi Padalka.

The Russian arrived at the spacecraft in September 2023 aboard the Soyuz MS-24. It will add 1,110 days – almost three years – when it returns to Earth on September 23. In total, Kononenko, who was born in the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan, flew five missions to the ISS. They were held in 2008, 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2023. Kononenko’s brand is almost unbeatable today. The next ten astronauts on the list are retired or deceased.

The vast majority are Russian or born in the former Soviet Union, with the exception of the American Peggy Whitson. She is in ninth place with 675 days. A great achievement if you consider that NASA has always limited the stay of women on the ISS due to their greater risk of suffering from cancer.

His record is practically unbeatable.  Here he is aboard the ISS.
His record is practically unbeatable. Here he is aboard the ISS.

new station

The next active cosmonaut is the also Russian Sergei Prokopiev, who has 567 days. However, it will be difficult for him to increase his personal brand. The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, announced its intention to abandon the ISS in the coming years. They will focus on the construction of the new Russian space station.

The man who reached 1000 days in space is not the only Russian who holds space records. The record for continuous stay in space is held by Valeri Poliakov. He spent 437 days uninterruptedly at the Russian MIR station between 1994 and 1995.

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