---

Q. Who has spent the most time in space? — Leander McD.
A. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, for more than two years.
On August 16, 2005, International Space Station commander Sergei Krikalev surpassed the record for most cumulative time spent in space by any person. On that date, his accumulated total during six flights passed 749 days in space. The previous record had been 747 days, 14 hours, 14 minutes and 11 seconds held by fellow Russian cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev. When Krikalev returns to Earth from the ISS, he will have 815 or more days in space.

Krikalev was born in 1958 in the former Soviet Union at Leningrad – now St Petersburg, Russia. He was selected to be a cosmonaut in 1985 and completed his basic training in 1986. He has been a member of the Russian and Soviet national aerobatic flying teams and has been awarded various titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin.

During his 20-year career, Krikalev lived aboard Russia's former Mir space station. He made his first long-duration mission to Mir in 1988. The cosmonaut flew aboard U.S. shuttle Discovery flight STS-60, the first joint US-Russian shuttle mission in 1994. He also was a member of the first crew to live aboard the International Space Station. Among his six trips to space, Krikalev has made three long duration flights. One was aboard Mir and two were on the ISS.
KRIKALEV NASA BIO »

Former ISS commander Michael Foale is the U.S. space endurance record holder with a total of 375 days.
FOALE NASA BIO »

Sergei Krikalev

Michael Foale

Russian record holders. Avdeyev's record of some 748 days in space was accumulated on three flights.

Cosmonaut and doctor Valery Polyakov set the world single-flight endurance record in 1994-1995, when he completed a 437.7-day mission aboard Soyuz TM-18.

A recent space traveler, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, is among the most experienced space travelers, having logged more than 610 days in orbit on four flights, placing him fifth on the all-time space endurance list.

U.S, record holders. Foale has been a member of six space shuttle crews and two space station crews. He was aboard U.S. space shuttles in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999. He was a flight engineer aboard Russia's Mir space station in 1997 and was commander of the International Space Station in 2003-2004. Foale traveled to the ISS on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
SEE FOALE FLIGHT TABLE BELOW »

U.S. astronaut Carl Walz had held the record before Foale with 230 days, 13 hours, three minutes and 37 seconds in space.

Walz still is co-holder, with astronaut Daniel Bursch, of the record for the longest single U.S. spaceflight. Walz and Bursch spent nearly 196 days aboard the International Space Station as Expedition crew 4.

American astronaut Shannon Lucid holds the single flight and cumulative record for time in space by a woman. She had a 188-day flight aboard Russia's Mir space station contributing to a cumulative total of 223 days in space on five flights.

Personal Spaceflight Endurance Records
Rank	Person	Days	Nation
1	Sergei K. Krikalev	~815	Russia
2	Sergei Avdeyev	747.593	Russia
3	Valeri Polyakov	678.690	Russia
4	Anatoly Solovyev	651.117	Russia
5	Alexander Kaleri	609.911	Russia
6	Viktor Afanasyev	555.772	Russia
7	Yury V. Usachev	553.016	Russia
8	Musa Manarov	541.021	Russia
9	Alexander Viktorenko	489.066	Russia
10	Nikolai M. Budarin	444.060	Russia
11	Yuri Romanenko	430.765	Russia
12	Alexander A. Volkov	391.495	Russia
13	Yuri I. Onufrienko	389.282	Russia
14	Vladimir G. Titov	387.036	Russia
15	Gennady Padalka	386.592	Russia
16	Vasili Tsibliyev	381.662	Russia
17	Valery G. Korzun	381.653	Russia
18	Leonid Kizim	374.749	Russia
19	Michael Foale	373.763	USA/UK
20	Aleksandr Serebrov	372.954	Russia
21	Vladimir Soloviyov	361.952	Russia
22	Talgat Musabayev	339.409	Russia
23	Yuri P. Gidzenko	329.950	Russia
24	Yuri Malenchenko	322.703	Russia
25	Gennadi Manakov	309.889	Russia
26	Aleksandr Aleksandrov	309.758	Russia
27	Valery Ryumin	297.924	Russia
28	Gennady Strekalov	268.938	Russia
29	Vladimir Lyakhov	259.563	Russia
30	Viktor Savinykh	252.849	Russia
31	Vladimir Dezhurov	244.229	Russia
32	Oleg Atkov	252.849	Russia
33	Carl E. Walz	230.212	USA
34	Daniel W. Bursch	226.594	USA
35	Shannon W. Lucid	223.161	USA
36	Valentin Lebedev	219.250	Russia
37	Vladimir Kovalyonok	216.382	Russia
38	Kenneth D. Bowersox	211.594	USA
39	Anatoli Berezovoy	211.378	Russia
40	Susan J. Helms	211.048	USA
41	Jean-Pierre Haignere	209.517	France
42	Edward T. Lu	205.972	USA
43	James S. Voss	202.314	USA
44	Leonid Popov	200.574	Russia
45	Pavel Vinogradov	197.732	Russia
46	Edward Fincke	187.884	USA
47	Sergei Y. Treschev	184.927	Russia
48	Peggy A. Whitson	184.927	USA
49	Aleksandr Lazutkin	184.922	Russia
50	Thomas Reiter	179.071	Germany

Michael Foale Spaceflight Record
Mission	Vehicle	Position	Date (dd/mm/yy)	Duration (dd:hh:mm:ss)	Orbits	EVAs
STS-45	Atlantis	Mission Specialist	24/03/92-02/04/92	08:22:10:24	143	0
STS-56	Discovery	Mission Specialist	08/04/93-17/04/93	09:06:09:22	148	0
STS-63	Discovery	Mission Specialist	02/02/95-11/02/95	08:06:29:36	129	1 (04 hrs 39 min)
NASA-5 launched on STS-84 landed on STS-86	Mir	Flight Engineer	15/05/97-06/10/97	144:13:47:21	2313	1 (06 hrs 00 min)
STS-103	Discovery	Mission Specialist	19/12/99-27/12/99	12:19:51:57	201	1 (08 hrs 10 min)
ISS Expedition 8 Soyuz transport	ISS	Commander	18/10/03-30/04/04	194:18:35:00	3116	1 (03 hrs 55 min)
Missions flown: 6		Total flight time:		378:15:03:40	6050	4 (22 hrs 44 min)

Learn more: Space Factoids  »» Astronauts and Cosmonauts [U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission]  »» Top 50 space travelers [Wikipedia]  »» Ask Space Today Online another question Return to the Questions 'n Answers main page