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Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko recently broke the criminal record for most accumulative time spent in outer space while circulate Earth in theInternational Space Station(ISS ) . The newfangled record , which will continually broaden until he returns to Earth later this year , could continue unchallenged for years to come .

On Feb. 4 , 59 - year - old Kononenko surpassed fellow spaceman Gennady Padalka ’s accumulative record of 878 twenty-four hour period , 11 time of day , 29 minutes and 48 seconds spent in infinite , the Russian state - owned tidings siteTASS announce the same daylight .

Oleg Kononenko boarding a rocket

Oleg Kononenko has been onboard the ISS since September 2023.

Kononenko is presently participating in his 5th missionary station on the ISS since his first escape in 2008 , which is the joint most mission on the station . He arrived for his most late mission on Sept. 15 , 2023 , and is gestate to stay on the ISS until Sept. 23 this year , by which time he will have spent 1,110 days in quad , Live Science ’s sister siteSpace.com describe .

To put this into context , by the time Kononenko returns to Earth , he will be single - handedly creditworthy for around 1.5 % of thetotal metre spent in space by more than 600 humansover the last 63 geezerhood , since the first human distance flight of steps was accomplished by Kononeko ’s compatriotYuri Gagarin .

" I fly into space to do my preferent thing , not to set records , " Kononeko told TASS , asreported by Reuters .

A cosmonaut being loaded into a launch capsule

Kononenko is currently on his fifth mission to the ISS.

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It is presently unclear if this will be Kononeko ’s last delegacy in infinite . But he told TASS that being a spaceman , or Russian astronaut , is " becoming more complicated " and that train for missions " has not become easier " over time .

Regardless of any future missions , Kononeko ’s record - part prison term in space will help scientists learn more about thephysiological effects of live in blank , such as muscleman degeneration , bone loss , quash eyesight and impaired balance .

Time-lapse of a rocket taking off

Kononenko arrived on the ISS onboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that launched from Kazakhstan.

Kononeko ’s record will probably remain unploughed for quite some time because the next 10 debut in the list of spaceman with the longest accumulative clock time spent in space — nine of which are also Russian or were part of the former Soviet Union — are either retired or dead . Russia eclipse this tilt largely because the Russian quad federal agency Roscosmos reserve its cosmonaut to spend longer periods in place thanNASAdoes .

The next fighting astronaut on the list is cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev , who is presently 12th in rank and who has spent 567 non - consecutive day in outer space . However , Roscosmos is expected tofully draw back from the ISS by 2025 , which stand for that Prokopyev and other cosmonaut wo n’t be able to spend extended catamenia in space until they create their own space station , such asChina ’s Tiangong place place , orbuild a base on the moon .

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The only American and distaff in the top 10 list of accumulative days in space is NASA ’s Peggy Whitson , who is ninth on the list and spent 675 non - consecutive twenty-four hours in space across four ISS missionary station . This is an impressive feat consideringNASA usually only appropriate human beings to pass the longest full point in space , because they have a high risk of developing cancer from ionizing radiation in space .

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The longest continuous stay in space is also hold by a Russian named Valeri Polyakov , who spend 437 straight daylight onboard the former Mir space station between 1994 and 1995 .

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