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On March 18 , 2025,NASAastronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico aboard aSpaceXcrew capsule , finallycompleting their unexpected nine - month missionto the International Space Station ( ISS).When the two astronauts rode an experimental Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the ISS on June 5 , 2024 , their halt in domain was mean to last as few as eight days . But due topersistent leaks and errors aboard Starliner , the Boeing - made space vehicle was at long last sent back to Earthwithout a crew — leaving Williams and Wilmore sting on the ISS for more than nine month while a replacement capsule was arranged .
When the distich finally returned home in March , the astronaut had completed 286 consecutive days in space . But while that unexpectedly long continuance sounds like a lot , it ’s completely normal for spaceman , and far from a new phonograph record .
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore spent 286 consecutive days in space before returning home on March 18. How does that compare to spaceflight records?
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spaceman typically spend an average of six calendar month aboard the ISS , where they conduct experimentation and maintain the space station before returning to Earth , according to Live Science ’s babe siteSpace.com . However , missions can extend many calendar month longer , for a miscellany of rationality , including long - continuance experiment and unforeseen incidents .
Who has spent the longest time in space?
The record for the most consecutive day in space by an American goes toastronaut Frank Rubio , who spent 371 daysaboard the ISS from September 2022 to September 2023 .
Rubio was initially await home base in March 2023 , but his stoppage in space more than double after a small meteoroid or spell of outer space junkslammed into the Russian Soyuz spacecraftthat was meant to contain him home in December 2022 , make irreparable damage . Rubio , along with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin , had to wait another six calendar month in space before a replacement Soyuz capsule come to bring them home .
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While Prokopyev and Petelin also time 371 sequent days in space , they did not break any Russian records . Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov — who holds the disk for the most consecutive days spent in place by any human — turn aboard Russia ’s now - defunctMir blank space station for 437 mean solar day , or more than 14 calendar month , from January 1994 to March 1995 . Polyakov volunteered for this mission as part of a study of the effects of long - term spaceflight on human wellness .
Other renowned long - haulage stays in space includeAmerican astronaut Christina Koch ’s 328 day aboard the ISS from March 2019 to February 2020 — the recollective single space travel by a womanhood — and American spaceman Scott Kelly ’s 340 days in space from March 2015 to March 2016 .
How does space affect the human body?
Kelly ’s protracted spaceflight — which broke records at the time but has now been stand out several times — was part ofNASA ’s groundbreaking Gemini study , which compared Kelly ’s physical and mental wellness pre- and post - spaceflight to the baseline health of his identical twin buddy Mark Kelly , a retired astronaut and current Arizona senator who remain on Earth during his chum ’s time in scope .
The twinned study revealed that cosmonaut experiencea turn of changesduring long stay in scope , including changes in gene expression , body weight and gut microbiome constitution . It added to astill - growing eubstance of researchthat shew that astronauts who spend extended amount of time in microgravity are also likely to experience short - terminal figure health impact such as heftiness and bone loss , vision problems , lower resistance , an increased endangerment of parentage clots and kindling , and DNA damage . Most of these changes revert to normal after six months back on Earth , research worker have find . However , the study of spaceflight on human wellness is still in its infancy .
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During their hitch in orbit , Williams and Wilmore likely experienced some of these irregular change , as well aschanges in genial wellness colligate with closing off and boredom , prior research suggests . But their extended stay in space was scarcely unprecedented — and much safer than sending the pair home on a spacecraft with unresolved proficient issues .
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