Astronaut Mark Vande Hei Completes 300 Days In Space, Set To Break NASA Record

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei had launched to the orbital laboratory along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, as part of the Soyuz MS-18 mission. 

Mark Vande Hei (Photos: NASA)

New Delhi: NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who arrived at the International Space Station on April 9, 2021, completed 300 days in space on Wednesday. 

On March 3, Vande Hei will surpass NASA astronaut Christina Koch's 328-day mission. 

On March 15, Vande Hei will surpass former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly's 340-day mission. 

After spending a NASA astronaut record-breaking 355 consecutive days in Earth orbit, Vande Hei will return to Earth on March 30, NASA said on its website.

Vande Hei had launched to the orbital laboratory along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, as part of the Soyuz MS-18 mission. 

Soyuz Commander Novitskiy returned to Earth on October 17, 2021, with a Russian film actor Yulia Peresild, and director Klim Shipenko.

Vandei Hei and Flight Engineer Dubrov completed 273 days on the orbital laboratory on January 6, and surpassed NASA astronaut Andrew R Morgan's record of on the space station.

Vandei Hei and Dubrov reached their 300-day milestone on the space station on Wednesday. Capsule Communication (CapCom) Woody Hobaugh from Mission Control in Houston congratulated Vande Hei and Dubrov for this feat. On the way to and from station, CapCom is the astronaut on Earth who communicates with the crew members in their spacecraft.

Vandei Hei, Dubrov, and station Commander Anton Shkaplerov will return to Earth on board the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship at the end of March. 

Experiments Conducted By Expedition 66

The Expedition 66 crew continued its space biology and human research activities aboard the space station. Using this data, scientists will learn how to improve health in space and Earth.

On Wednesday, NASA astronaut Raja Chari and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer performed a visual function study inside the Kibo laboratory module of the ISS. The astronauts explored how microgravity affects the vascular function and tissue remodelling in the eye. 

Another vision study exploring how an astronaut interprets motion, orientation, and distance in space was conducted. NASA Flight Engineer Kayla Barron participated in that study. 

Then, Chari used medical imaging gear, or optical coherence tomography to examine the eyes of NASA Flight Engineer Thomas Marshburn. Maurer started his day setting up virtual reality gear for a training session in the Columbus laboratory module, and assisted Chari and Mashburn.

On Thursday, Shkaplerov serviced video gear, transferred cargo from inside the Prichal docking module, and set up Earth observation hardware. 

Vande Hei and Dubrov teamed up and installed internal wireless gear in the space station's Russian segment.