A 59-year-old Russian cosmonaut has become the first person to spend 1,000 days in space, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Wednesday.
Oleg Kononenko reached the milestone on Tuesday during his fifth trip to the International Space Station, a series of missions that began in 2008.
His current mission to the ISS began on September 15, 2023, when he lifted off alongside NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and compatriot Nikolai Chub.
Kononenko broke the record for the most accumulated time in space in February 2024, when he surpassed the total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds set by fellow Russian Gennady Padalka in 2015.
If Kononenko’s mission ends on schedule, September 23, 2024, he will have spent a total of 1,110 days in orbit.
“There is this certainty that you have achieved something new and important, that you have surpassed a certain milestone, touched the unknown,” Konenko told Russian news agency TASS. “It gives you confidence and pride in the work you have done.”
He also told TASS that his American colleagues on the ISS were among the first to congratulate him on his achievement.
The International Space Station is one of the few fields in which the United States and Russia continue to cooperate closely following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Roscosmos announced in December that its cross-flight program with NASA to bring astronauts to the ISS had been extended until 2025.
