NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei reflects on record 355 days in space

Mark Vande Hei returned from a 355-day stay on the International Space Station on March 30. A week later, he made his first public comments about the experience in a press conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday (April 5) ‘I want my 355 days to be remembered as the record that got broken,’ he said. The previous record was 340 days, by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016. His first spaceflight ended after 168 days in 2018. He reported having aches and pains, but that his transition back to Earth was going better — and faster — than he expected. He said that one of the key lessons he learned from spending so much time in space is how quickly it’s becoming normal. . . .