Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka in the first week of July 2015 achieved Guinness World Records for spending most number of days in the space. He achieved this title by spending 804 days on the International Space Station (ISS). He surpassed cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, record of 803 days, nine hours and 41 minutes in the space which Sergei achieved across six missions from 1998 to 2005.
Padalka, will return to earth in September 2015. After that he would have spent a total of 877 days in space by then.
About Gennady Padalka:
- He is a Russian Air Force officer and an RKA cosmonaut.
- As of 28 June 2015, Padalka ranks first for career time in space with 804 days.
- Padalka is a recipient of the Hero Star of the Russian Federation
What is ISS?
- ISS is a space station that was launched in 1998.
- It is the largest artificial satellite body that orbits earth nearly 400 km above the surface and it can be seen with naked eye.
- ISS moves at a very high speed and it completes 15.54 orbits per day.