Cosmonaut Aboard Mir Space Station Breaks Record of 237 Days in Orbit

A cosmonaut set an endurance record in space Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 237 days in orbit, Soviet media said.

“It’s only the beginning,” flight commander Yuri Romanenko declared on a telecast from the orbiting Mir space station.

Romanenko, 42, blasted into space on Feb. 6 along with flight engineer Alexander Laveikin and began a series of experiments aboard the Mir, the Soviets’ second-generation space station launched 19 months ago.

Laveikin, however, showed signs of heart trouble and was replaced by Alexander Alexandrov in late July after a weeklong visit to the Mir by a Soviet-Syrian crew.

Soviet television broadcast an interview with Romanenko after he passed the 237-day mark set in 1984 by three other Soviet spacemen: Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovev and Oleg Atkov.

Romanenko, dressed in blue coveralls, bobbed up and down slightly in the Mir’s zero gravity as he thanked the state enterprises and agencies associated with his flight for making it possible.

There has been no announcement by Soviet officials of when Romanenko and Alexandrov will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TM-3 capsule left behind at the Mir by the Soviet-Syrian crew.

But it is likely they will stay aloft until Oct. 4, when the Soviet Union will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first man-made object sent into space.