Spaceflight is inherently dangerous. From the earliest days of designing spacecraft for crews, engineers have looked for ways astronauts could be rescued in the event of a mishap involving the rocket. An American-developed option — a launch escape system, or escape tower – was copied by the Soviet Union and it saved the lives of two Russian cosmonauts.
On Jan. 8, 2020, NASA astronaut Christina Koch became the first woman from any nation to pass the milestone of 300 days on a single spaceflight. Koch eclipsed the previous record of time in space for a woman, 289 days, on Dec. 28, 2019. NASA’s Peggy Whitson set the mark between Nov. 17, 2016 and Sept. 3, 2017.
American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko participated in a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Twice as long as a typical crew, the effort was to learn more about the effects of microgravity on the human body.