Oleg Kononenko, a 59-year-old Russian cosmonaut, has become the first person to spend 1,000 days in space, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, Associated Press reports.
Kononenko reached this milestone on Tuesday, marking his five missions to the International Space Station (ISS) since 2008. His latest journey began on September 15, 2023, with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Russian Nikolai Chub. If his current mission concludes as planned on September 23, 2024, he will have spent a total of 1,110 days in orbit. Kononenko expressed pride and confidence in his accomplishment and noted that his American colleagues were among the first to congratulate him. Kononenko broke the previous cumulative space time record in February 2024, surpassing Gennady Padalka’s 2015 record of 878 days.
Despite tensions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the ISS remains a key area of US-Russia cooperation, with their cross-flight program extended until 2025.
