Astronauts celebrated the achievement aboard the International Space Station.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko set a world record for the longest time spent in space on Sunday. He reportedly spent more than 878 days and 12 hours outside the Earth’s atmosphere, a total of nearly two and a half years. sky news.

The 59-year-old surpassed the milestone of compatriot Gennady Padalka, who made five space trips before retiring in 2017 and spent a total of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds in space .

Astronauts celebrated the achievement aboard the International Space Station. “I fly into space to do something I love, not to set records. I have dreamed and aspired to be an astronaut since I was a child. This interest – the opportunity to fly into space, live and work in orbit – inspires me Keep flying,” he told Russian news agency TASS.

Mr Kononenko added: “I am proud of all my achievements, but I am even more proud that the record for total human time spent in space is still held by Russian cosmonauts.”

Mr. Kononenko is the commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps and is on his fifth space mission. He began his current mission to the International Space Station on September 15, 2023, along with fellow Russian Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara.

He will complete 1,000 days of space flight on June 5 this year, becoming the first person to achieve this feat. Additionally, he will have spent 1,110 days in space when his current expedition, scheduled to end on September 23, ends.

The 59-year-old said he did not feel “deprived or isolated” as he was able to video call relatives and exercise regularly. Still, he said, it’s difficult not to see the kids in front of him. “It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that the children had been growing up without their dad for hundreds of days in my absence. This time, no one was coming back to me.”

Meanwhile, the International Space Station is one of the few international projects on which the United States and Russia still work closely together. In December, Roscosmos said its crossover flight program with NASA to the International Space Station had been extended to 2025. Relations between the two countries have broken down in other areas since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago, and Washington has responded by sending weapons to Kiev and imposing successive rounds of sanctions on Moscow.