Mark Vande Hei set a new record for the longest stay aboard the International Space Station
A Nasa astronaut returned to Earth aboard a Russian craft on Wednesday, breaking the record for the longest single spaceflight by an astronaut at 355 days.
Mark Vande Hei broke the previous record for the longest stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by 15 days.
During Vande Hei’s stay, he orbited the Earth 5,680 times, covering a distance of more than 150 million miles.
On his return journey, Vande Hei was joined by two Roscosmos cosmonauts – Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.
The trio touched down in Kazakhstan on Wednesday afternoon.
The trip was put into doubt when the Russian space agency appeared to imply it would not allow Vande Hei to travel aboard its Soyuz craft, after the US imposed sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Watch a live stream of Vande Hei’s return here.
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