Who has spent the most days in space Will Sunita Williams break the record

Sunita Williams: Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5 with her partner Butch Wilmore. She had gone on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which malfunctioned and both the astronauts are now stranded on the ISS. Last Saturday, NASA confirmed that Sunita and Butch will no longer return by Starliner. They will come with the Crew-9 mission, which may return by February next year. In such a situation, the question arises whether Sunita Williams will break the record of staying in space for the longest time.

According to a Live Science report, the record for staying in space for the longest number of days was set by Valeri Polyakov. He spent a total of 437 days in space from January 1994 to March 1995. However, he spent that time not on the ISS but on the Mir space station, which is now closed. Scientists wanted to study the effect of staying in space for a long time on human health and Polyakov chose this mission of his own free will.

Talking about staying for the longest time on the International Space Station, America’s Frank Rubio, Russia’s Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin have stayed on the ISS for 371 days. The three made this record from September 2022 to September 2023.

These astronauts were part of the same mission. The spacecraft in which they were to return got damaged after being hit by space debris. So all three had to wait for a full 6 months on the ISS.

How many days will Sunita Williams stay in space

If Sunita Williams returns by February 2025, she will spend about 240 days in space. If she returns in March, she can stay in space for 270 days. This means that Sunita and Butch will not be able to break the old records.