A Russian cosmonaut could have broken the world record for the longest total period spent in space by surpassing the record of 878 days on Sunday, previously set by his compatriot who achieved the feat.
“I fly into space to do what I love, not to set records,” Oleg Kononenko told Russia's TASS news agency on Sunday from the International Space Station.
The 59-year-old veteran astronaut, who has moved 423 kilometers away from Earth since last September after leaving the planet aboard a Soyuz MS-24 rocket, is currently making his fifth visit to space since his first flight in 2008, which lasted 200 days. According to The Guardian newspaper.
But on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. GMT, the 50-year-old won the world title for the person who has spent the most time in space, after overtaking Gennady Padalka, who held the record with 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 minutes. Seconds, according to Reuters.
The news agency continued that between now and its planned return at the end of September, man must pass the mark of 1,000 days in space on June 5, and must reach a total of 1,110 days when he again sets foot on Earth.
In the meantime, the astronaut will have to train regularly to counteract the harmful and “insidious” effects of weightlessness on the body, he told TASS, noting in passing that the technology at least allows him to stay in touch with his loved ones during his extended existence. Periods in space.
“I don't feel deprived or isolated. It's only when you come home that you realize that for hundreds of days, in my absence, the children grew up without a father.
But according to him, each new trip becomes more and more difficult, because technological progress requires more preparation.
“The astronaut's mission is becoming more complex. The systems and experiments are becoming more complex. […] He noted that preparation has not become easier.
