How many people can say they’ve spent a record breaking 879 days in space? Now Russian Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka can. He, and two astronauts have arrived safely in Kazakhstan, after leaving the International Space Station in the Soyuz Capsule. The two astronauts, who were both space newbies, were in orbit for 10 days as they attached the Soyuz to the ISS and then go back with the record breaking Russian cosmonaut. Andreas Mogensen, who is Denmark’s first man in space, and Aidyn Aimbetov, who is Kazakhstan’s first man in space, were the other two crew mates.
THE RUSSIAN COSMONAUT AND HIS SOYUZ CAPSULE
The Soyuz had brought Mogensen and Aimbetov to the station along with another Russian cosmonaut who would replace Padalka, named Sergei Volkov. When they arrived to the station, there were a total of 9 people from multiple countries gathered there. After packing the Soyuz spacecraft, they were ready to head home. At 9:39, the Soyuz spacecraft left the ISS station for Central Kazakhstan. The capsule itself has to mechanically leave the ISS, because firing any rockets towards the ISS would be too dangerous. American astronaut Scott Kelly, who monitored the descent of the spacecraft to Earth, actually tweeted pictures of the Soyuz on his account. After breaking Earth’s atmosphere, the parachute released, the retrorockets thrusted and slowed the capsule down enough so it doesn’t explode once it reaches Earth’s surface. Even with all that could go wrong, the capsule landed safely at 06:51 am and people rushed to the scene to help the spacemen out of the spacecraft.
RECORD BREAKING DAYS IN SPACE
Padalka has gone on 4 missions to the ISS in total, and broke fellow Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev’s record pf 803 days total in space. He is also the first person to command the International Space Station 4 times. His first space mission was in 1998, and he had been going up to Russia’s MIR space station. In his most recent ISS stay, he was up there for 168 days. When the medics asked about his conditions following spending that much time in space, Padalka replied, “I am fine.” During this, he was sipping on tea and eating an apple.
