On This Day In Space: June 6, 1995: Astronaut Norm Thagard breaks space endurance record (Image Credit: Space.com)
On June 6, 1995, American astronaut Norman Thagard broke NASA’s space endurance record at the time of 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes while aboard the Russian space station Mir.
Thagard, a veteran of four shuttle flights, was considered the first American cosmonaut and the first American to ride to space aboard a Russian vehicle.
He launched aboard a Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft to the Russian Mir-18 on March 18, 1995, and landed on NASA’s shuttle Atlantis on July 7th of that year. He ultimately spent 115 days in space on the flight.
The current single-mission space endurance record is held by Valery Polyakov at 437.7 days.
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