Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has set a brand new world document for essentially the most time spent in house.
The 59-year-old clocked up a cumulative complete of greater than 878 days and 12 hours outdoors the Earth’s environment – the equal of almost two-and-a-half years – on Sunday morning.
Mr Kononenko celebrated the milestone on board the International Space Station (ISS), which he has travelled to 5 occasions since 2008.
“I fly into space to do what I love, not to set records. I’ve dreamt of and aspired to become a cosmonaut since I was a child.
“That curiosity – the chance to fly into house, to reside and work in orbit – motivates me to proceed flying,” he informed Russian information company TASS.
Mr Kononenko added: “I am proud of all my achievements, but I am more proud that the record for the total duration of human stay in space is still held by a Russian cosmonaut.”
The cosmonaut is anticipated to achieve a complete of 1,000 days in house on 5 June.
By late September he may have been up in house for 1,110 days – the equal of simply over three years.
His present journey to the ISS started on 15 September final 12 months, when he launched alongside NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos compatriot Nikolai Chub.
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (proper) and Nikolai Chub on a spacewalk outdoors the ISS in October final 12 months. Pic: Roscosmos Space Corporation through AP
‘No one will return this time to me’
Mr Kononenko mentioned video calls to family members again dwelling and common train on board meant he didn’t really feel “deprived or isolated”.
But he added: “It is only upon returning home that the realisation comes that for hundreds of days in my absence the children have been growing up without a papa. No one will return this time to me.”
Mr Kononenko is the newest in a protracted line of cosmonaut trailblazers, together with Yuri Gagarin, who was the primary man to journey into house in 1961.
His achievement tops the document set by his fellow countryman Gennady Padalka, who clocked up a complete of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, and 48 seconds in house in 2015.
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Russia’s house programme suffered a droop following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, however officers in President Vladimir Putin’s administration have since been eager to revive it to its former glory.
The ISS is among the few worldwide tasks wherein the US and Russia nonetheless cooperate intently regardless of tensions over the conflict in Ukraine and ongoing sanctions.
Oleg Kononenko assessments a brand new house go well with again on Earth. Pic: AP
Russia’s house company Roscosmos mentioned in December that its cross-flight programme with NASA to the ISS had been prolonged till 2025.
The house station travels 263 miles (423 km) above Earth at a pace of 5 miles per second. It orbits the planet about as soon as each 90 minutes.
Content Source: information.sky.com