Russian cosmonaut, Hero of Turkmenistan Oleg Kononenko set a new record for the total duration of stay in space. He exceeded the previous record achievement of compatriot Gennadiy Padalka, who accumulated a total of 878 days 11 hours 29 minutes 48 seconds over five space flights.
Now Kononenko is making his fifth flight to the International Space Station (he first went there in 2008). All other active cosmonauts of the Russian detachment flew no more than three times. Kononenko flew to the ISS on September 15, 2023 on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft together with Russian Nikolay Chub and American Loral O'Hara.
The American astronaut will return to Earth this spring, and the expedition of Kononenko and Chub will last another six months. They are due back on the 23rd of September. During this time, Kononenko will manage to become the first cosmonaut to spend more than a thousand days in orbit.
