The Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko set this Sunday (4) a world record for longest time in space, surpassing his compatriot Gennady Padalka which has logged more than 878 days in orbit, the Russian space corporation said.
At 5:30 am (Brasília time), Kononenko broke the record, state news agency Roscosmos said.
Kononenko is expected to reach a total of 1,000 days in space on June 5 and by the end of September will have logged 1,110 days.
“I fly into space to do what I love most, not to break records,” Kononenko told Russian news agency TASS in an interview from the International Space Station (ISS), where he is orbiting around 423 km from Earth.
“I am proud of all my achievements, but I am most proud that the record for the total length of human stay in space is still held by a Russian astronaut.”
The 59-year-old took the lead from Padalka, who had accumulated a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds, Roscosmos said.
Kononenko dreamed of going to space as a child and enrolled in an engineering institute before undergoing astronaut training.
Its first space flight was in 2008. Its current trip to the ISS was launched last year on a Soyuz MS-24. The ISS is one of the few international projects on which the United States and Russia still cooperate.
In December, Roscosmos said a crossover flight program with NASA to the ISS had been extended until 2025.
Relations in other areas between the two countries have broken down since Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago, to which Washington responded by sending weapons to Kiev and imposing successive rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
Source: CNN Brasil
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