NASA Astronaut Breaks U.S. Space Endurance Record
NASA astronaut Michael Foale, International Space Station
Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Science Officer, is the new
U.S. space endurance record holder, and he’s not finished yet.
Just before 2 p.m. EST Monday, Foale surpassed the previous
U.S. record of 230 days, 13 hours, three minutes and 37
seconds. NASA astronaut Carl Walz set the old record in June
2002. By the time Foale returns to Earth next April, he will
have accrued 375 cumulative days in space. Walz made an ultra-
long-distance phone call from NASA Headquarters in Washington
Monday to congratulate Foale on his accomplishment. Walz is
still co-holder of the U.S. record for the longest single U.S.
spaceflight during Expedition 4. He and NASA astronaut Daniel
Bursch spent nearly 196 days aboard the Space Station.
Foale has been a member of six Space Shuttle crews and two
Space Station crews. He flew aboard Shuttle missions in 1992,
1993, 1995 and 1999. He flew as a flight engineer aboard the
Russian Mir Space Station in 1997, traveling to and from the
station aboard the Shuttle. For Expedition 8, Foale traveled
to the Station on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Foale’s Expedition 8 crewmate, Russian cosmonaut and Flight
Engineer Alexander Kaleri, is also among the most experienced
space travelers. By the end of their mission, Kaleri will have
logged 610 days in orbit on four flights, placing him fifth on
the all-time space endurance list. Another Russian cosmonaut,
Sergei Avdeyev, holds the all-time record for time spent in
space, with 748 days accumulated on three flights. Cosmonaut
Valery Polyakov set the world single-flight endurance record
in 1995, when he completed a 438-day mission.
American Shannon Lucid holds the single flight and cumulative
record for time in space by a woman. She had a 188-day flight
aboard the Russian Mir Space Station contributing to a
cumulative total of 223 days in space on five flights.
Walz’s call to Foale, along with b-roll, will be replayed at
noon EST today during the NASA Television Video File. NASA TV
is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85
degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz.
Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.
For information about NASA TV on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
Foale’s biography is available on the Internet, at:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/foale.html
For information about NASA and the International Space Station
on the Internet, visit:
