EeHH.CO.UK

Mr Vande Hei surpassed Nasa’s previous record for the longest single spaceflight by 15 days. Mr Dubrov moved into Russia’s top five, well short of the 437-day, 17-hour marathon by a cosmonaut-physician aboard the 1990s Mir space station which remains the world record.

“Broken records mean we’re making progress,” said Nasa’s previous space endurance champ, retired astronaut Scott Kelly, whose 340-day mission ended in 2016.

Like Mr Kelly, Mr Vande Hei underwent medical testing during his long stay to further Nasa’s quest to get astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars. He said daily meditation helped him cope during the mission, twice as long as his first station stint four years earlier.

“I’ve had an indoor job 24/7 for almost a year so I am looking forward to being outside, no matter what kind of weather,” Mr Vande Hei said in a recent series of Nasa videos.

Provided by PA Media(PA Graphics)

As for food, he is looking forward to making a cup of coffee for himself and wife Julie, and digging into guacamole and chips.

Remaining on board the ISS are three Russians who arrived two weeks ago and three Americans and one German, who have been aboard since November.

Their replacements are due in three weeks by SpaceX. Next week, SpaceX will fly three rich businessmen and their ex-astronaut escort to the station for a week-long visit arranged by the private outfit Axiom Space.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX began transporting Nasa astronauts to the station in 2020, nine years after the space shuttle programme ended.

During that gap, Russia offered the lone taxi service, with Nasa shelling out tens of millions of dollars per Soyuz seat.

Mr Vande Hei’s ride was part of a barter exchange with Houston-based Axiom.