A few days ago, Russian Oleg Kononenko became the man who spent the most time in space. It has now spent 878 days in orbit, nearly two and a half years, accumulated during five missions to the International Space Station, and is still in orbit. It peaked in September last year and won't return until next September, when it will have accumulated 1,110 days over three years.
Extended space travel has consequences and has been carefully studied by the likes of Kononenko. His work and the work of others like him will be crucial in understanding the risks and needs of humans in future missions to the Moon and Mars. Muscle mass and more than 1% of bone mineral density is lost every month in space. After reaching Earth after half a year in orbit, several years of recovery are required, and exposure to cosmic radiation increases the risk of broken bones, stiffness or cancer.
Among the longest-stayers in space are extraordinary experiences, such as Russian Sergey Grigalev, who went into space in May 1991 from the Soviet Baikonur Cosmodrome and landed in March 1992 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Over the 800 days Grigalev has spent in space, he has traveled 20 milliseconds into the future due to a strange phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein.
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