
Mark T. Vande Hei, the American astronaut who created the record most time spent in space will be brought back by a Russian vessel. He spent a total of 341 days in space most than any American astronaut, before him Scott Kelly set a record for the longest time in space, spending 340 consecutive days aboard the ISS so that NASA could study his health and compare it to that of his Earth-bound twin brother.
Today @Astro_Sabot makes history, surpassing @StationCDRKelly's record of the single longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut!
Mark's stay will help us understand the effects of longer duration missions in space.
Mark, thanks for your service & congrats! https://t.co/7RYyujaNdS
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) March 15, 2022
whereas Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days on the Mir space station from 1994 and 1995 still holds the record for the longest time a person has stayed in space. His combined space experience is more than 22 months, greater than any person alive.
#OTD in 1994, Valeri Polyakov departed Earth on Soyuz TM-18 for the Mir space station… where he would remain for a still-unbeaten record of 437 days before returning to Earth on 22 March 1995. pic.twitter.com/WBKZ4zAkJQ
— Chris G – NSF (@ChrisG_NSF) January 8, 2022
Due to the intense issue of Ukraine and international sanctions, it was originally thought that Russia will retaliate using Roscosmos, but NASA’s Russian counterpart complied without hesitations taking in mind the international space laws which were unexpected as Kremlin was not very happy over the sanctions by NATO allies but honoured the Outer Space Treaty that was signed in the Soviet era. Roscosmos has several astonishing achievements as has been a competent rival of the prestigious American space agency.
The program manager at ISS, Mr Montalbano said “All these have continued for 20 years and nothing has changed in the last three weeks. Our control centres operate successfully, flawlessly, seamlessly,” BBC reported.
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA Exp 66 Flight Engineer @Astro_Sabot answered social media questions on Mar. 10 and reflected on his record-breaking spaceflight. pic.twitter.com/nTBIKMAUkr
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) March 16, 2022
UNOOSA was formed in 1958 and the International Space treaty was signed on 27th January 1967. In 1967, when the Outer Space Treaty was signed, the Cold War was in full swing. Both the US and the Soviet Union wanted to prevent the expansion of the nuclear arms race into a completely new territory i.e. space.