Vande Hei to become first American to stay for longest period in space station

Newswand: Vande Hei would hold the record of first American to spend longest time in spaceflight as he would stay in the International Space Station till March, 2022. He would be in the spaceflight for 353 days.  

Vandei Hei in International Space Station. Photo credi/NASA

However, Russian Valeri Polyakov holds the world record of longest spaceflight stay as he spent 878 days in the spaceflight in two missions. He holds the record of 437 days single stay in the spaceflight.

As far as America is concerned Vande Hei would become the first American to stay for longest period in the space station. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has extended the stay of Vande Hei and his colleague in the space station, Pyotr Dubrov, up to March 2022.

According to the NASA’s communication, with the plans for Russian spaceflight participants to visit the space station as part of the Soyuz MS-19 crew in October 2021, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov will remain aboard the station until March 2022. Upon return to Earth, Vande Hei will hold the record for longest single spaceflight for an American.

A potential benefit to this extension is NASA gaining deeper insight into how the human body adapts to life in microgravity for longer periods of time. This research helps prepare for Artemis missions to the Moon and eventually long-duration missions to Mars, as well as provides critical opportunities for additional research to be conducted aboard the station that can benefit life on Earth.

Rodents living on the station will soon be studied to understand how microgravity affects a variety of biological systems and processes. NASA Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough began their day on September 14 training for the Rodent Research-1 Demonstration (RR-D1) experiment that will take place inside the Kibo laboratory module.

Afterward, Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency joined Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and took their turn studying for the upcoming RR-D1 study. The rodents will live in JAXA’s Mouse Habitat Unit and the experiment will be housed inside Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox. The biology study specifically aims to understand how weightlessness impacts normal skin function and wound healing.

Ends…