A Russian astronaut, Oleg Kononenko, on Tuesday, June 4, made a record of spending 1,000 days in space.
According to AP News, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced on Wednesday that Kononenko has become the first person in history to spend 1,000 days in space.
The cosmonaut has made five journeys to the International Space Station (ISS) since 2008 to achieve this milestone.
He made a recent trip to the ISS with NASA’s astronauts Loral O’Hara and compatriot Nikolai Chub on September 15, 2023.
Kononenko told Russian state news agency TASS, “There’s this awareness that you have achieved something new and important, that you’ve overcome a certain milestone, touched the unknown. It gives you confidence and pride in the work you’ve done.”
Kononenko broke the record for most cumulative time spent in space in February 2024. He surpassed the record of fellow Russian astronaut Gennady Padalka, who in 2015 spent a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, and 48 seconds in space.
However, if his mission had ended on the decided timeline of September 23, 2024, he would have spent 1,110 days in space.
Kononenko also told TASS that his American astronaut colleagues were the first to congratulate him for achieving the milestone.
Moreover, ISS is one of the few areas where the US and Russia still cooperate closely even after Moscow's invasion in February 2022.
