Russian cosmonaut becomes longest-serving person in space

Specifically, at 11:30:08 on February 4 (Moscow time), cosmonaut Kononenko surpassed the achievement of his compatriot Gennady Padalka. According to TASS news agency, Mr. Padalka spent a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds in space, through 5 space flights before retiring in 2017.

Kononenko, who works for Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos, is on his fifth space flight. After completing his current mission (scheduled for September 23), he will have accumulated a total of 1,110 days in space.