Germany has
a new spaceflight champion in Thomas
Reiter, who is now setting a daily record aboard the International Space
Station (ISS) for the most time spent in space by a European Space Agency (ESA)
astronaut.
Now more
than one month into his 175-day mission aboard the ISS, Reiter has passed the 212-day
mark of career spaceflight time while orbiting the Earth as a flight engineer with the
station's Expedition
13 crew. The milestone pushed Reiter ahead of former ESA spaceflight
record-holder Jean-Pierre Haignere, of France, who spent
209 days, 12 hours, 25 minutes and 11 seconds in space.
"At the end
of your mission, you will have spent [nearly] one year in space," Jean-Jacques Dordain, director-general
for the ESA, told Reiter in a congratulatory message. "With this outstanding
expertise and experience you - as our 'highest flying' colleague - symbolize
Europe's commitment to space "We are extremely proud of your achievements and wish
you the best of luck in your remaining time up there."
Reiter
first launched into space in 1995 during the ESA's EuroMir 95 mission to Russia's
space
station Mir. During that flight, Reiter spent 179 days in orbit and staged
two spacewalks - his
space agency's first - on top of his experiment duties.
On July 6,
2006, Reiter became the first German astronaut to board the
ISS and is the first long-duration spaceflyer from Europe to serve aboard
the orbital laboratory. His Astrolab mission includes more than 20 research
experiments that range from life sciences and biology to astrophysics and
technology.
Last week,
Reiter tucked another first under his belt as he became the first
European astronaut to perform a spacewalk from the ISS, ESA officials said,
adding that NASA astronaut Jeffrey
Williams led the extravehicular work. Russian cosmonaut and Expedition
13 commander Pavel Vinogradov remained inside the ISS during the spacewalk.
"I can tell
you that every second of training is really worth the effort just to get up
here," Reiter told Dordain in a recent space-to-ground call. "It's a great
place to be."
The
all-time spaceflight record sits securely in the hands of Russian cosmonaut Sergei
Krikalev, who spent a total of 803
days in space - more than two years of his life altogether - during a
series of six spaceflights beginning with a November 1988 launch toward the
space station Mir and ending with 2005's Expedition
11 mission to the ISS.
The U.S.
career spaceflight record is currently held by NASA astronaut Michael
Foale - a native of England - who has flown six space missions and racked
up 374
days in orbit before ending the successful Expedition 8
mission with an April 2004
landing.
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