Russian cosmonaut breaks the world record for longest time in space

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on Sunday broke the world record for the most time anyone has ever spent in space. This was reported by the Russian space agency Roscosmos on Sunday. With 878 days and twelve hours, the 59-year-old Russian has surpassed the 2015 record set by compatriot Gennady Ivanovich Padalka. Despite Kononenko's pride in his own achievement, he stresses that he is even prouder that the record “is still in the hands of a Russian astronaut.”

On September 15, 2023, the Russian cosmonaut was launched to the International Space Station along with NASA astronauts Loral O'Hara and Nikolai Chub. This is Kononenko's fifth mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Before that, he traveled to the International Space Station in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2019. If the astronaut completes his current mission, he will be the first person in the world to spend a thousand days in space.

The International Space Station is one of the few areas where the United States and Russia still work closely together. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, most existing cooperation between the two superpowers collapsed. Roscosmos announced last December that the cruise programme, in which Russia and the United States transport their respective astronauts to the International Space Station, had been extended until 2025.

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