Valery Polyakov spent time in space for over a year
(Picture: AP)A Russian cosmonaut who set the record for the longest stay in space has died aged 80.
Valery Polyakov spent a record 437 days in space between January 1994 and March 1995.
He and two others blasted off on a two-day flight to the Soviet space station MIR and while aboard, he orbited the Earth more than 7,000 times.
Upon landing, Mr Polyakov declined to be carried out of the Soyuz capsule, as is common practice to allow readjustment to the pull of gravity.
He was helped to climb out himself and he walked to a nearby transport vehicle.
Mr Polyakov had trained as a physician and wanted to demonstrate that the human body could endure extended periods in space.
The announcement by space agency Roscosmos did not state a cause of death.
Mr Polyakov was born in Tula in 1942. He specialised in astronautics medicine and dedicated himself to space medicine after earning a doctoral degree at a Moscow medical school.
“His research has helped prove that the human body is ready to travel not only to Earth’s orbit, but also into deep space,” Roscosmos said in a statement, the Moscow Times reports.
In an interview shared by Roscosmos, Mr Polyakov said the 280 million kilometers he had amassed in his 437 consecutive days in space “is enough to reach Mars and come back”.
Mr Polyakov made a total of two space expeditions, during which he spent 678 days and 16 hours in orbit.
He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his first space flight from August 1988 to April 1989, where he spent 240 days and 22 hours in orbit.
