On his fifth mission to the International Space Station, Oleg Kononenko has already spent 878 days away from Earth. Upon his return, expected in September, he will complete the 1,100 days. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko set this Sunday (04/02) a new record for time spent in space, surpassing the threshold of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds set by his predecessor, the Russian Guennady Padalka.
Kononenko, who has been on the International Space Station (ISS) since September, broke the record at 5:30:08 (Brasilia time).
The 59-year-old Russian is on his fifth mission to the orbital platform. Its return to Earth is scheduled for September 23, when it will have spent a total of 1,110 days in space. The thousand day mark will be reached on June 5th.
Speaking to the Russian news agency TASS, Kononenko said that, in the future, man should build a station that is “a real space home”, larger, more comfortable and less dependent on Earth. To this end, he recommended improving systems for water regeneration, oxygen supply and space debris recycling.
The Russian first flew to the station in April 2008, as part of the 16th expedition, and has since completed six spacewalks, totaling 39 hours and 54 minutes.
Padalka, the now outdated record holder, retired in 2017, at the age of 58, after realizing he had no chance of participating in a sixth mission to the ISS and reaching 1,000 days in space.
“It’s a shame. I’m always sorry when a trained, experienced and motivated man, with a long career, leaves the ranks” of cosmonauts, said Sergei Krikalev, director of the pilot program of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, at the meeting time.
Padalka surpassed Sergei Krikalev’s record of 803 days in space on June 29, 2015, bringing it to 878 days during his fifth mission.
Life in space
Kononenko said he exercised regularly to combat the physical effects of the “treacherous” weightlessness, but realized what he had lost in space when he returned to Earth.
“I don’t feel deprived or isolated,” he said. “It’s only when I return home that I realize that for hundreds of days in my absence, the children grew up without dad. No one will give me that time back.”
He said cosmonauts can now use video calls and messages to stay in touch with relatives, but preparing for each new spaceflight has become more difficult due to technological advances.
“The cosmonaut profession is becoming more and more complicated. The systems and experiments are becoming more and more complicated. The preparation has not become easier,” he said. Kononenko dreamed of going to space as a child and enrolled in an engineering college before undertaking cosmonaut training.
The ISS is one of the few international projects on which the United States and Russia still collaborate closely. In December, Roscosmos announced that a joint flight program with NASA to the ISS had been extended until 2025.
Relations in other areas between the two countries were disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, to which Washington responded by sending weapons to Kiev and imposing subsequent rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
bl (EFE, Reuters)
Source: Terra
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