ALMATY: Two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, returned to Earth on Monday following a historic 374-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), marking the longest continuous stay on the station to date.
During this mission, Kononenko, 60, set a new record for the longest cumulative time spent in space, surpassing three years with a total of 1,111 days across five missions. Alongside them, American astronaut Tracy Dyson, who arrived at the ISS in March, also returned.
The Soyuz MS-25 capsule carrying the three astronauts landed in Kazakhstan’s vast steppe at 16:59 local time, as confirmed by an official broadcast.
While the record for the longest unbroken time in space remains with Russia’s Valeri Polyakov, who spent 438 days on the Mir space station in 1994-95, Russia has announced plans to withdraw from the ISS, claiming it has outlived its purpose. The country aims to develop its own independent space station, though these plans have faced delays.
Roscosmos, Russia’s state space agency, is actively seeking new partnerships with nations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In a rare instance of cooperation between the US and Russia amid ongoing tensions over Ukraine, American and Russian astronauts continue to share the ISS, with Russian Soyuz crafts facilitating their transport to and from the station. The ISS, which is roughly the size of a football field, orbits approximately 250 miles above the Earth.
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