Russian Cosmonaut's Record Remains Unchallenged

International Space Station Commander Scott Kelly set a new record today becoming the NASA astronaut with the most cumulative days in space, 383 days and counting. Mike Fincke, a two-time space station resident, was the previous record holder at 382 days. Kelly is scheduled to return to Earth on March 2, 2016, for a total of 522 days in space.

Kelly Tweeted on Friday that he had awakened to a view of the Himalayan mountains on his 282rd day in space. He said the view was "strikingly beautiful" and that "I must visit some day."

But he also knows that a future astronaut will one day surpass his achievement. "Records are meant to be broken. Look fwd to one of my colleagues surpassing my end 500+ days on our #JourneyToMars!" he tweeted.

According to NASA's ISS blog, the record-setting day was an ordinary one on the station. The six-member Expedition 45 crew has been working station maintenance, biomedical science and emergency training on Friday.

Kelly, was inside the Kibo laboratory module retrieving two CubeSat nanosatellites from the laboratory’s porch, using the Kibo airlock. His fellow NASA astronaut, Kjell Lindgren, joined Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui for eye scans with an ultrasound and heart exams with an echocardiogram. Kelly then partnered with Lindgren practicing spacewalk rescue techniques using virtual reality goggles.

Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko got together with Kelly for more eye checks using a Fundoscope. Flight Engineer Sergey Volkov installed a storage unit then serviced a video camera. Kelly’s fellow One-Year crew member, Mikhail Kornienko, worked on a radiation detection experiment before moving on to routine maintenance in the station’s Russian segment.

The overall record is held by Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who spent 879 days in space over the course of several missions, including Russia's MIR space station and multiple visits to ISS.

(Source: NASA ISS Blog. Top image posted to Twitter by Scott Kelly. Bottom image via NASA-TV: NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren (left) and Scott Kelly talk about two upcoming spacewalks the duo will be conducting Oct. 28 and Nov. 6.)

FMI: Scott Kelly Twitter