NASA ISS astronaut Mark Vande Hei Breaks A Record

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei broke the record for most consecutive days in space for an American astronaut. Vande Hei arrived on the ISS on April 9, 2021. He is expected to return to Earth on March 30, 2022.

Once he returns, he will have spent 355 days in low-Earth orbit. 355 days puts Vande Hei in orbit 15 days longer than the previous record-holder Scott Kelly.

NASA says former crewmember Thomas Pesquet snapped the image above. Pesquet said when he snapped the picture:

“If you are reading this sitting down, maybe on a sofa or couch, consider that we will not sit down… until we are back on Earth! Of course we don’t need to sit down up here, and I am not complaining at all, but sometimes that wonderful feeling of relaxation that moment when you change from running around to letting yourself drop into a chair that moment can be wonderful I am sure you all agree, and we do miss it sometimes! I think Mark did here too and made a makeshift reading table to enjoy a book absolutely unnecessary in weightlessness but so nice to construct some semblances of normal life every now and again!”