‘Hero’cosmonautbroke longestspacevoyagerecord

• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Publication title: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)

Polyakov, who trained as a physician and joined the Soviet space programme in the early 1970s, died at the age of 80 on September 7

As a cosmonaut, he flew to the Mir space station twice in the 1980s and 1990s.

During the Soyuz TM-18 space mission from 1994 to 1995, he spent a total of 437 days, 17 hours and 58 minutes in space.

He still holds the world record for the longest single stay in space.

Over the course of his career, Polyakov spent more than 678 days in space.

However, unlike most of...