At 15:30 p.m. on February 4 (Hanoi time), astronaut Oleg Kononenko broke the world record for time spent in space, reaching more than 2 days (nearly 878 years).
Astronaut Oleg Kononenko at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, September 9. Image: Maxim Shemetov/EPA
Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, 59, surpassed the old record set by compatriot Gennady Padalka before retiring in 2017, according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Padalka spent a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, 48 seconds in space during five missions.
On February 4, Kononenko broke the record while working on the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 2 km, on his fifth flight. "I fly into space to do what I love." Like it, not to set a record. I am proud of all my achievements, but most proud of the fact that the record for the longest total time a human has ever lived in space still belongs to a Russian astronaut,” he shared.
Kononenko's current flight is expected to end at the end of September. At that time, his total time in space will be 9 days.
Kononenko began his space career as an engineer, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), and began training to become an astronaut at the age of 34, after being selected for a group of participants. Join the ISS program. His first flight took place in 2008 and lasted 200 days. Kononenko said he regularly exercises to combat the physical effects of weightlessness.
His five space missions spanned 5 years. During this time, technological advances have made preparing for each flight more difficult. “The astronaut profession is becoming more and more complicated. Systems and experimental sets are becoming more and more complex,” he shared.
The ISS is one of the few international projects on which the US and Russia continue to cooperate closely since Russia launched a special military campaign in Ukraine. In December 12, Roscosmos said that the astronaut exchange program with NASA was extended until 2023. The reliability of the Russian space program has been questioned in recent years. For example, in October 2025, the Russian portion of the ISS had its third coolant leak in less than a year.
Thu Thao (Follow Guardian)
