4 NASA Astronauts Who Spent More Time Aboard ISS Than Sunita Williams And Butch Wilmore Have So Far
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore's extended stay on the ISS is set to end on March 18, as NASA says the weather conditions for the day are favourable.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore have spent far longer in space than originally planned during their current strip, after technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft prevented their scheduled return. Williams and Wilmore were expected to stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for just around eight days following their June 5, 2024 launch, but with Starliner unable to bring them home, their mission stretched into months.
If everything goes as planned, the two veteran astronauts will return on Earth on March 18, as announced by NASA in its latest update.
However, while their extended stay presents challenges, it is not the longest time an astronaut has spent in orbit.
.@NASA will provide live coverage of Crew-9’s return to Earth from the @Space_Station, beginning with @SpaceX Dragon hatch closure preparations at 10:45pm ET Monday, March 17.
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) March 16, 2025
Splashdown is slated for approximately 5:57pm Tuesday, March 18: https://t.co/yABLg20tKX pic.twitter.com/alujSplsHm
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Who Holds The Record Of Longest Stay In Space?
In all, there have been at least four NASA astronauts so far who have spent more than 300 days in space, besides Russian cosmonauts who hold records for the longest stay in space.
In fact, the record for the longest single spaceflight belongs to Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent an astonishing 437 days, 17 hours and 38 minutes aboard the Mir space station in the mid-1990s. Another cosmonaut, Sergey Avdeyev, is said to have spent 379.6 days aboard Mir.
After the ISS started operations in November 1998, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio created the record of longest stay in space, spending 371 days aboard the orbiting lab, before returning to Earth in October 2023.
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub broke Rubio's record in September 2024, spending 374 days in orbit before coming back to Earth alongside NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson. Kononenko now holds the all-time record for cumulative time in space, having spent a total of 1,111 days in orbit across his missions.
Rubio’s mission, which was initially planned for a shorter duration, was extended after his spacecraft suffered a coolant leak, forcing him to remain in space for several additional months. During his mission, Rubio orbited Earth nearly 6,000 times and travelled more than 157 million miles, according to NASA records.
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286 Days, If Return Flight Is On Schedule
In comparison, Sunita Williams’ current mission, while long, does not yet reach these durations.
Williams had previously stayed in space as part of two separate missions, and accumulated a cumulative total of 322 days in orbit. Wilmore, on the other hand, had a cumulative total of 178 days in orbit from his two previous space missions.
By the time Williams and Wilmore return on March 18, as per the plan shared by NASA, they would have spent 285 days in space in all during the current trip.
However, longest or not, their time in orbit is contributing to NASA’s research on long-duration spaceflight, a critical area of study as humanity prepares for deep-space missions, including potential journeys to Mars that could last over 1,100 days. Astronauts who remain in space for extended periods often experience significant physiological changes, from muscle atrophy to shifts in brain structure and gut bacteria, making such research invaluable, according to research done by NASA and other agencies.
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