On September 23, 2024, after returning to Earth on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko became the new world record holder for the total time spent in space
TASS-DOSSIER. On September 23, 2024, after returning to Earth on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko became the new world record holder for the total time spent in space. During five orbital missions, he flew 1,111 days.
TASS has prepared a material on the records of manned cosmonautics.
The record for the total duration of flights
The previous achievement - 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, 48 seconds - was established in 2015 by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who made five flights into space. Padalka's record was approved on April 15, 2016 The International Aviation Federation (Federation Aeronautique Internationale, FAI).
American Peggy Whitson spent the most time in space among women - 675 days, 3 hours, 50 minutes, 13 seconds (during four orbital flights).
The longest orbital flight
The longest continuous orbital flight in the history of world cosmonautics - 437 days, 17 hours, 58 minutes, 17 seconds - was carried out by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov in January 1994 - March 1995, working at the Mir station.
Among women, this achievement belongs to the American Kristina Cook, who spent 328 days, 13 hours, 58 minutes, 37 seconds in space flight during the flight on March 14, 2019 - February 6, 2020 (she worked on the ISS as part of the 59th, 60th and 61st main expeditions).
Records for spacewalks
The longest spacewalk - 8 hours 56 minutes - was performed on March 11, 2001 from aboard the International Space Station by American astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms.
The largest number of exits - 16 - was performed by Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov. In total, according to Roscosmos, he spent 78 hours and 46 minutes in outer space. All exits were made from the board of the Soviet (later Russian) Mir orbital station in the period from 1990 to 1998.
Among women, the record holder for the total time spent in outer space is Peggy Whitson - 60 hours and 19 minutes (for 10 exits).
The largest number of people simultaneously on orbital flights
The largest number of people in space at the same time was recorded on September 11, 2024. A total of 19 participants in flights under different programs, representatives of three countries (Russia, the United States and China), were in low-Earth orbit on this day.
12 people worked on the International Space Station, who arrived at different times as participants of the ISS-71 expedition (on the Russian Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft), the Crew-8 work mission (on the Crew Dragon spacecraft of the American company SpaceX) and the first manned Crew Flight Test mission (on the American Starliner developed by Boeing). Among them: five Russians - Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Wagner; seven Americans - Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Janet Epps, Tracy Dyson, Barry Wilmore, Sunita Williams, Donald Pettit.
There were three taikonauts at the Chinese Tiangong station (as cosmonauts are called in China): Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangxu (arrived at the station in April 2024 on the Shenzhou-18 ship).
In addition, the participants of the Polaris Dawn commercial mission on the Crew Dragon ship were in the autonomous orbital flight: Americans Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
The previous record was set on May 30, 2023, when the total number of people in Earth orbit was 17 people.
Age records of orbital flights
The youngest cosmonaut at the time of launch was German Titov (USSR). He went on his first and only flight, which took place on August 6-7, 1961 on the Vostok-2 spacecraft, at the age of 25 years, 10 months, 26 days.
The oldest astronaut is the American John Glenn (Jr.). At the launch of the Discovery shuttle on October 29, 1998, of which he was a member, Glenn was 77 years old, 3 months and 11 days old.
The youngest among female cosmonauts is Valentina Tereshkova (USSR). At the time of the launch of the Vostok-6 spacecraft, on June 16, 1963, she was 26 years old, 3 months and 11 days old.
The oldest female astronaut is Peggy Whitson (USA). On May 22, 2023, she embarked on her fourth flight (as commander of the Axiom 2 commercial mission to the ISS) at the age of 63 years, 3 months, and 14 days. Previously, the record belonged to American Barbara Morgan (on August 8, 2007, she went on the shuttle Endeavour on her first and only flight, she was 55 years, 8 months, 12 days old).
