Russian Cosmonauts Break Record for Longest ISS Flight

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub have set a new record for the longest single mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), surpassing the previous record held by cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio, who spent 370 days onboard from September 2022 to September 2023. Kononenko and Chub arrived at the ISS on September 15, 2023, via the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft and are scheduled to return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-25 on September 23, 2024, totaling 374 days in space.

Previous Record Details

The previous record of 370 days, 21 hours, 22 minutes, and 16 seconds was set by Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio.

Kononenko’s Milestones

• On February 4, 2024, Kononenko surpassed the total space time record set by Gennady Padalka (878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, 48 seconds).
• By June 5, 2024, Kononenko became the first person to spend 1,000 days off Earth.
• After this mission, Kononenko will have accumulated 1,110 days in space across five missions.

About Oleg Kononenko

Born on June 21, 1964, in Turkmenabat (formerly Chardzhou, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic), Kononenko holds an engineering degree from the Zhukovsky Kharkov Aviation Institute (1988). Trained at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, he became a test cosmonaut in 1998 and undertook his first space mission in 2008.

Longest Single Space Mission

The all-time record for the longest single space mission remains with Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 days, 17 hours, 58 minutes, and 17 seconds on the Mir space station between January 1994 and March 1995.