With stranded NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams currently on their way back to Earth, one Russian cosmonaut spent significantly longer in space and managed to leave his landing capsule without assistance.
Valeri Polyakov is one of the biggest names to ever be a part of the Soviet space program and its successor, the Russian Federal Space Agency.
A cosmonaut for the Russians from the early 1970s until the mid 1990s, he made history after journeying to the Mir space station in 1994 where he spent 437 consecutive days floating around the planet.
It’s a world record to this day, with Polyakov circling the planet more than 7,000 times during this experiment that began in January 1994 and ended in March 1995.
Polyakov photographed from a passing space shuttle while on the Mir space station orbiting Earth (F. Carter Smith/Sygma via Getty Images)
Heading to the Mir space station on board the Soyuz TM-18, the entire purpose of Polyakov’s journey in to the cosmos was all to do with health and future experiments off planet that could be on the horizon for space agencies around the world.
While up there, Polyakov exercised for two hours a day to compensate for there being zero gravity and therefore, zero pressure on his muscular and skeletal systems to maintain their integrity and density.
He would then do more than two dozen experiments on his own body, looking at his diet in space; how his blood and nervous system reacted to zero gravity; and how his immune system held up.
Polyakov on the Mir space station (F. Carter Smith/Sygma via Getty Images)
Bizarrely, Polyakov also grew 2.5 inches while in space after his spine straightened out without gravitational force on the skeletal system.
But when journeying back to Earth, he had a rather uncomfortable trip given that his chair and re-entry gear had been a bespoke fit for him when he was 6ft 2.5in and not the 6ft 5in he was upon return.
After landing in the steppe of modern day Kazakhstan, Polyakov was tracked and located by Russian space officials.
With the door to his landing capsule opened, he made the decision to walk out of the spacecraft on his own accord despite being offered help as he got used to the force of gravity on his body once again.
He walked out and sat himself down at a nearby chair in which he lit a cigarette and enjoyed an alcoholic beverage. A glass of brandy, to be precise.
Polyakov retired as a cosmonaut months after landing back on Earth (PIERRE ANDRIEU/AFP via Getty Images)
The reason for this? To show he was physically fine after such a long period in space – providing hope for future long trips in to space, such as an eventual journey to Mars if Elon Musk and SpaceX get their way.
Polyakov said: “That was pretty much the goal of the flight. I had to show that it is possible to preserve your ability to function after being in space for such a long time.”
Polyakov retired as a cosmonaut three months after landing on Earth, calling it a day in June 1995.
In total, he spent 678 days in space on his two trips off of the planet, spending his later years working as the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Public Health in Moscow.
In this role, he was in charge of the medical aspects of long-duration space missions; something he was well experienced in.
Polyakov died at the age of 80 in September 2022, with Russian space agency Roscosmos announcing his passing on its website.
