Who set a record for days in space by a woman in 1995?

Elena Kondakova set the women’s spaceflight endurance record in 1995. Her Mir mission lasted 169 days, 5 hours, and 21 minutes, making her the first woman to complete a long-duration spaceflight.

Kondakova launched aboard Soyuz TM-20 on October 4, 1994, and lived aboard the Russian space station Mir as a flight engineer. She returned to Earth on March 22, 1995. Her mission included scientific and medical research conducted during a months-long stay in orbit.

At the time, Kondakova’s 169-day mission was the longest single spaceflight by a woman. Shannon Lucid surpassed that mark in 1996 during her own extended Mir mission. The record has since changed hands several times, with NASA astronaut Christina Koch later completing a 328-day mission in 2020.

Kondakova later flew on the Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-84 in 1997, becoming the first Russian woman to travel aboard a U.S. spacecraft. Her name may also appear as Yelena Kondakova, a transliteration difference rather than a different person.