At present, the record holder of the cumulative dwell time in space is the former Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, a total of 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes, of which the longest one, a single time reached 311 days.
However, the reason why he stayed in the "sky" for so long was really not to complete any major tasks, mainly because he had no money to go home and was stranded on the Mir space station.
The former Mir space station
In April 1991, 33-year-old Sergei Krikalev, along with colleague Anatoly Alzbalski, and a British female astronaut, chemist Helen Shaman, traveled aboard the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft to the Mir space station.
From left to right, the flags of Helen, Anatoly, Sergey, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom represent the nationality of the astronauts
Eight days later, Helen returned to Earth with the crew of the previous mission, leaving only two Soviet cosmonauts, Sergey and Anatoly, circling outer space to maintain the poorly rated space station. Originally, their mission was five months and they were expected to return to Earth in the fall.
Sergey and Anatoly dressed in Soviet spacesuits
Who could have predicted that in the summer and autumn of that year, the tanks of "stability maintenance" drove up the streets of Moscow, people erected barriers on bridges and roads, flocked to the streets to protest and assemble, seventy years of red history was denied, the republics declared independence one after another, and the bills and treaties of the Soviet Union gradually became a blank piece of paper. In the endless variety of major events, for a moment and a half, no one paid attention to the Mir in the "sky".
At this time, the turbulent Soviet Union was really unable to send enough experienced astronauts in time to replace Sergey. So, in September of that year, only his companion, astronaut Anatoly, was brought back.
Sergey didn't think much about the organizational arrangement. After all, as a "veteran", he had received a long period of flight training. Just two years ago, Sergey spent 152 days aboard Mir.
Moreover, the Soviets repeatedly promised to arrange for him to return home as soon as money and replacements were available.
A month later, he still got the same reply - asking him to overcome the difficulties and continue to insist on "a short period of time"... Another month later, the same rhetoric is still true... In another month, the motherland that sent him "heaven" split into 15 countries, and the Soviet Union that promised to take him home ceased to exist.
While his own country is in turmoil and disintegration, the Sergey side of the universe seems to have stood still in time and space. In this way, he retained his Soviet identity and drifted alone in space.
Space food of the USSR. You can make up for the feeling of being alone in outer space facing these "foods"
In fact, if you force your way out, Sergey can do it. Mir itself carries a re-entry module designed to return to Earth on its own under unusual conditions.
However, if you choose to do so, Ping will face the risk of being abandoned - the space station will lose maintenance and the mission will be interrupted. And Mir, the pride of the Soviet/Russian people, can never be stopped.
With the return journey still far away, Sergey chose to persevere. Afterwards he recalled:
"It's really hard, I'm going to face muscle wasting, radiation, cancer risk, weakening immune systems, the after-effects of long space missions... But now that the country is in trouble, saving money is a top priority. ”
By the beginning of 1992, the Russian economy, which had been "shocked" by "shock therapy", began to collapse greatly, hyperinflation occurred, and the funds of the Russian National Space Agency also shrank significantly. What's more, the Baikonur Space Launch Base, which the Soviet Union originally used to launch rockets, became the territory of the newly independent sovereign state, Kazakhstan, and Moscow had to pay a series of related huge fees if it wanted to continue to use it.
Fortunately, although it is not possible to "go home", the materials are still abundant. During this time, NASA also delivered supply ships to the trapped Sergey.
Sergey has also been in touch with his wife, Elena, who works at the control center, and has a weekly phone call.
From his wife's mouth, he learned that the ruble had depreciated sharply and domestic prices had soared. Their monthly salary of 500 rubles, which was originally a "super high salary", could only barely maintain the level of food and clothing, and more former Soviets could not even eat a full meal.
In fact, neither the former Soviet Union nor the Russian government in 1992 has deliberately forgotten Mir and Sergey when they are in a state of anxiety, and the return trip has been delayed again and again because of the lack of money, the lack of money.
Mir, which was officially put into orbit in 1986, is a major example of the Soviet Union "surpassing" the United States in the field of space in the late stage of the US-Soviet hegemony, which is a particularly proud thing. For the Soviets/Russians of that year, abandoning Mir was no less than a "traitorous act.".
Eventually, the beleaguered Russian Federation laid down its body and opened up the space industry to the world, trying to raise money by selling "spaceship and space station tours" to Western governments — Austria spent $7 million to buy a seat on the Soyuz, a Japanese television station spent $12 million to send a reporter to the spaceship, and Germany made the highest bid, paying a total of $24 million to buy a space station place to replace Sergey.
With regard to the use of funds for the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russia negotiated an agreement with Kazakhstan to allow the first Kazakh astronaut to take to the air in exchange for a "discount" from kazakhstan.
The spacecraft docks with the space station
On March 25, 1992, after 311 days in orbit, Sergei finally returned to Earth.
After landing, Sergey was carried out of the hatch by four staff members, his spacesuit still printed with Soviet lettering, and the armband was a Soviet red flag composed of sickles and axes.
The staff in the back row, also wearing former Soviet uniforms, have a shining red star on the big cap
However, the Soviet Union, which has been separated for more than ten months, no longer exists. The land on which he landed was no longer his homeland, but the independent Republic of Kazakhstan, and the city in which he lived was changed from Leningrad to the old name of the Tsarist era, St. Petersburg.
In the course of Sergei's 5,000 flights around the Earth, the territory of his homeland shrank by more than 5 million square kilometers.
After completing the tasks entrusted to him by the Soviet Union, Sergei was awarded the title of "Hero of Russia" by Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, weak Russia got along well with the United States. Two years later, the experienced Sergei became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the NASA space shuttle. There are two armbands on the left and right, one is the Russian tricolor flag and the other is the American Star-Spangled Banner.
The Mir space station, once the pride of the Soviet Union/Russians, after flying more than 80,000 times around the earth, traveling 3.5 billion kilometers, receiving 28 long-term expedition groups and 16 short-term expedition groups from 12 countries, opened the "self-destruction mode" at 3:33 a.m. Moscow time on March 23, 2001, and the engine ignited and entered the falling orbit. More than six hours later, debris from the space station fell into the predetermined waters of the South Pacific.
For the abolition of "Mir", Russian media and people in the space community have rushed to call for the horn in many ways to try to renew the life of the space station. Because, in addition to its scientific and military significance, it is more like a national cultural and political symbol, belonging to the pride of the entire Russian people.
In the end, the Russian government insisted that it was difficult to retain mir whether it was from the perspective of world security or the technical situation of Mir itself, and it was duty-bound to implement the destruction decision.
Of course, the most critical reason, the Russian government naturally can not say too obvious - lack of money, or too short of money.
In this way, Mir completed a 15-year arduous journey, disappeared from earth orbit with the countless achievements it had made, with the pride of the Soviet era and the regret of all Russian people.
And just in 2000, when the last crew returned to Earth, they also left salt and bread on the "Mir" as usual in accordance with Russian customs, and once wishfully looked forward to the next crew to take over and continue to maintain the "Mir".....