Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 17 April 2008
International Space Station Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson has surpassed the US spaceflight record for the most time spent in orbit, reaching to 377 days by the time she lands. Whitson passed British/American astronaut Michael Foale, who has accumulated 374 days in space. Whitson’s record places her as the 20th most-experienced spaceflyer, behind a long list of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts.
Whitson’s record has been set by two flights aboard the International Space Station, as a science officer in the Expedition 5 mission in 2002 and her current stint as station commander for Expedition 16. Her Russian crewmate, Yuri Malenchenko, will have 515 days in space by the time they land, making him ninth on the list. Humanity’s most experienced spaceflyer it Sergei Krikalev, who spent 803 days in space with two US space shuttle flights, two long duration missions to Mir, and two more to the ISS. Whitson and Malenchenko will be returning to Earth with South Korean astronaut So-yeon Yi on April 19th.
Whitson also now holds the world record for the most space walking time by a female astronaut.
Whitson and Malenchenko will be handing over the ISS to the Expedition 17 crew, commanded by Russia’s Sergey Volkov with flight engineer Oleg Kononenko. Volkov and Kononenko arrived with Yi at the station last week.
International Space Station Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson has surpassed the US spaceflight record for the most time spent in orbit, reaching to 377 days by the time she lands. Whitson passed British/American astronaut Michael Foale, who has accumulated 374 days in space. Whitson’s record places her as the 20th most-experienced spaceflyer, behind a long list of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts.
