Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has become the first person in the world to spend a total of 1,000 days in space, as reported by “Roscosmos.” The record was set today, on June 5, at 00:20 Moscow time.
Since September 2023, Oleg Kononenko has been on his fifth space flight. It is expected that upon completion of his year-long flight to the International Space Station, scheduled for September 23, 2024, the total time spent in space by the cosmonaut will be 1,110 days, as noted by “Roscosmos.”
Mr. Kononenko himself mentioned that his new world record was first celebrated by the crew members of the American segment of the station and the Mission Control Center in Houston. “Foreign colleagues closely followed when the milestone of a thousand days would be reached, considering it a significant milestone for global cosmonautics. And they noted this in their congratulations,” he said (quote from TASS).
According to the statistics provided by “Roscosmos,” the second place for total time spent in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (over 878 days), followed by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (over 827 days) in third place. The next records up to the ninth place also belong to Russians. In ninth place is the first female ISS commander Peggy Whitson, with over 675 days in space.