Veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has returned to Earth after a record-breaking year-long keep onboard the World House Station (ISS). The 60-year-old spaceman has now spent 1,111 non-consecutive days in orbit, which is longer than some other astronaut in historical past — and can most probably stay unbeaten for a few years.Kononenko, who became 60 in June, returned to Earth within Russia’s Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft on Monday (Sept. 23), along fellow cosmonaut Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, consistent with Reside Science’s sister website House.com. The trio touched down within the steppe of Kazakhstan round 3.5 hours after undocking from the ISS.The 2 cosmonauts, or Russian astronauts, had spent a record-breaking 374 steady days onboard the gap station, narrowly beating NASA astronaut Frank Rubio who inadvertently finished a 371-day keep at the ISS ultimate yr after his go back craft was once broken. Dyson, in the meantime, returned after spending 184 days in area.Kononeko first broke the checklist for many cumulative days in area in February, when he surpassed the 878-day haul of compatriot Gennady Padalka, who set the checklist in 2015. Kononeko has flown on 5 other missions to the ISS since 2008, which is how the spaceflight veteran racked up his spectacular general.”Due to all my crewmates to your friendship. It’s been a good time and delight to paintings and spend time in combination right here as a large circle of relatives on board the World House Station,” Kononenko mentioned as he was once leaving the ISS. “Presently I’m leaving my 2d house.”Similar: House X’s Polaris Daybreak astronauts ‘contact the void’ on 1st-ever personal spacewalk
The Soyuz MS-25 lander wearing Kononenko, Chub and Dyson touched down within the steppe of Kazakhstan on Monday (Sept. 23). (Symbol credit score: NASA TV/Roscosmos TV)Throughout his cumulative time in area, Kononenko has finished kind of 17,800 journeys round Earth and spent greater than 44 hours within the vacuum of area throughout seven other spacewalks.Get the arena’s most enticing discoveries delivered immediately on your inbox.To place those numbers into point of view, Kononeko is single-handedly liable for round 1.5% of the overall time spent in area by way of greater than 600 other folks, for the reason that first human area flight was once completed by way of Kononeko’s compatriot Yuri Gagarin in 1961.One checklist that Kononenko has no longer crushed right through his stellar profession is the longest steady keep in area, which is held by way of Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 days on Russia’s former Mir area station between 1994 and 1995.Throughout Kononeko’s most up-to-date seek advice from, 14 other spacecraft arrived on the ISS, together with Boeing’s notorious Starliner rocket, which lately returned to Earth with out astronauts after struggling a couple of helium leaks. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had been stranded in area in consequence, and the latter has simply taken over command of the ISS from Kononenko.It’s unclear whether or not or no longer Kononenko will make any further journeys into area. He has no longer but introduced his retirement however has up to now admitted that spaceflight is “turning into extra difficult” and that getting ready for missions “has no longer change into more straightforward” over the years.
The Soyuz spacecraft indifferent from the ISS round 3.5 hours prior to the astronauts touched down on Earth. (Symbol credit score: NASA TV/Roscosmos TV)However even supposing he does retire quickly, his checklist will most probably stand for a very long time as the following 10 astronauts at the checklist of maximum cumulative days in area are both inactive or lifeless.The following lively astronaut at the checklist is Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev, who has spent 567 non-consecutive days in area, however it’s not likely that he’s going to ruin the checklist prior to Russia absolutely withdraws from the ISS by way of 2025. Alternatively, cosmonauts will most probably seek advice from China’s lately finished Tiangong area station at some point as a part of the 2 nations’ joint challenge to construct a base at the moon by way of 2035.An American is not likely to wreck Knononeko’s checklist prior to the ISS is deorbited and crashes again to Earth in 2030, in large part as a result of NASA does no longer most often permit its astronauts to stick in area so long as Russian cosmonauts.For Kononenko, his checklist is a pleasing success however has no longer been the top motivation for his lengthy lasting profession. “I fly into area to do my favourite factor, to not set information,” he mentioned in February after breaking the cumulative spaceflight checklist.
