Breaking Records: Russian Astronaut Spends Nearly 2.5 Years in Space
According to reports from several Russian media outlets, on the 4th day of February at 11:30:08 Moscow time (3:30:08 AM Eastern Time), 59-year-old Oleg Kononenko surpassed the record previously held by his compatriot Gennady Padalka. Padalka had spent 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, and 48 seconds in space before retiring in 2017 after completing five spaceflight missions.
Oleg Kononenko, currently serving as the commander for the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), is now on his fifth spaceflight mission. The mission is scheduled to conclude on September 23rd, at which point Kononenko’s cumulative time spent in space will reach 1,110 days.
Interestingly, Kononenko began his astronaut training for the International Space Station (ISS) project at the age of 34, as part of the ISS crew. His first spaceflight took place on April 8, 2008, during the ISS’s 17th main mission, and he returned to Earth on October 24, 2008.
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