This Tuesday (14), NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hay announced that he will stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) until March 2022, after receiving permission to extend his mission in the orbiting laboratory.
Vande Hei boarded in April, which means he will spend a total of 353 days living and working on the International Space Station. This period made him break a record: the longest spaceflight by an American astronaut.
Before him, the brand was owned by Scott Kelly, who stayed in space for 340 days. “I don’t think that’s a record that I can set for myself, it’s a record that I attribute to our space programme,” Vande Hei said. “I hope that this record will also be broken and that it will be another success for our space program.”
I will stay @space station Until March 2022 on a mission of about 353 days, a possibility I’ve been prepared for from the start. The opportunity to experience this with your awesome teammates while contributing to science and the future is exciting! https://t.co/oweCK6L1wN
– Mark T. Vande Hey (@Astro_Sabot) September 14, 2021
“Honestly, it’s exciting,” Vande Hei said in a video clip from the International Space Station. “I think all astronauts are explorers at heart,” he added. “I can’t wait, as a human, to understand what it’s like to do something like this.”
Vande Hei explains in the video that he sees extended travel as a way to help the scientific community understand how the human body can withstand the long spaceflights that would be required to visit distant space destinations like Mars, for example.
A NASA astronaut suffered from a health problem that prevented him from walking in space
According to the Space website, visits to the International Space Station usually take about six months. The round trip to Mars will likely take more than two years, according to NASA.
“Thank you, Mark, for your dedication to NASA and the research that will prepare humanity for the Artemis missions to the Moon, and later to Mars!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson wrote in a tweet.
Vande Hei is this astronaut who had a health issue a few weeks ago that prevented him from doing a spacewalk from the International Space Station. It was later revealed that the problem was a pinched nerve in her neck.
He was then replaced by astronaut Akihiko Hoshied of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), limiting himself to supporting activity from inside the space station.
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