Cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri, born May 13, 1956 in present-day Latvia, ranks fourth in time spent in space.
His first flight was as Flight Engineer on Soyuz TM-14 to the Mir space station in March 1992. He spent over 145 days in space as part of Mir EO-11.
His second flight was as Flight Engineer on Soyuz TM-24 to Mir in August 1996. He spent over 196 days in space as part of Mir EO-22.
His third flight was aboard Soyuz TM-30 as Flight Engineer to Mir in April 2000. He spent over 72 days in space as part of Mir EO-28.
His fourth flight was as Commander of Soyuz TMA-3 to the International Space Station in October 2003. He participated in Expedition 8 and spent over 194 days in space.
His fifth and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-01M as commander to the International Space Station. He participated in Expeditions 25-26, spending over 159 days in space.
In total, he has spent more than 769 days in space, which is over 2 years!
Soyuz TMA-01M crew (L-R): Scott Kelly, Aleksandr Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-01M, launched October 7, 2010, carried the members of Expedition 25 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Kaleri (RSA), Oleg Skripochka (RSA) and Scott Kelly (NASA). It was the first flight of the new TMA-M spacecraft, which Kelly praised for the upgrades.
They continued experiments on life sciences, remote sensing and activities of the European Space Agency. They returned to Earth in March 2011.
Oleg Skripochka, born December 24, 1969 in the former Soviet Union, has flown to space twice and has spent almost a year in space.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz TMA-01M, launched in October 2010 to the International Space Station. He was part of the crews of Expeditions 24 and 25, and performed 3 EVAs during his stay. He returned to Earth in May 2011.
His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-20M, launched in May 2016 to the ISS. He was part of the crews of Expedition 47 and 48.
Twins Mark Edward Kelly and Scott Joseph Kelly, born February 21, 1964 in Orange, New Jersey, are both astronauts, who were selected by NASA in 1986 and have logged many hours in space.
Mark Kelly is a veteran of four space shuttle flights. His first trip into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-108) to the International Space Station in December 2001 as pilot. His second missin was aboard Discovery (STS-121) also to the ISS as pilot in July 2006. He served as commander on his third flight back on Discovery (STS-124) May-June 2006. His fourth and final flight was on Endeavour (STS-134) as commander May-June 2011. He retired from NASA June 21, 2011 to help his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt, recover from her injuries.
Scott Kelly has flown two space shuttle missions and set a record in 2015 for the total number of accumulated days. This record was broken the following year by Jeff Williams, and the year after by Peggy Whitson.
His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) as pilot in December 1999, a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. His second mission was on Endeavour (STS-118) as commander to the ISS in August 2007. He flew to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-01M to the ISS with Commander Aleksandr Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka in October 7, 2010. He first served as flight engineer on Expedition 25, beginning the second part of the expedition. He became commander of Expedition 26 which began on November 10, 2010. He returned to Earth March 16, 2011.
His fourth and final mission was on Soyuz TMA-16M launched March 27, 2015 with Mikhail Kornienko, when he began a year-long mission aboard the ISS. He spent 11 months inspace, conducting 3 EVAs before he returned to Earth March 2016 on Soyuz TMA-18M. He was aboard the ISS for Expeditions 43-46. Upon his return, he retired from NASA in April 2016.
He published a book last year Endurance about his time in space.
L-R: Catherine Coleman, Dmitri Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-20, launched December 15, 2010, carried the second crew of Expedition 26 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Dmitri Kondratyev (Roscosmos), Catherine Coleman (NASA) and Paolo Nespoli (ESA). The spacecraft docked with the ISS two days later.
The first crew of Expedition 26 arrived on Soyuz TMA-01M in October.
After 157 day, Soyuz TMA-20 undocked from the ISS and touched down in Kazakhstan May 24, 2011.
