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On September 11, 2024, Earth reached a new milestone in space exploration, with a record 19 people currently orbiting our planet. The new record was set when a Russian Soyuz rocket launched three new astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The previous record of 17 was set last year. This significant increase in human presence in space highlights the growing activity and collaboration in space exploration.
Soyuz launches new crew
The Soyuz mission will launch on September 11, 2024, carrying NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. They are expected to arrive at the ISS around 3:30 p.m. EDT (19:30 GMT) on the same day.
The trio joins the nine astronauts already aboard the ISS, including NASA’s Michael Barratt, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams, along with cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin and Oleg Kononenko.
International and private space missions
There are currently three astronauts on the Chinese Tiangong space station: Li Cong, Li Guangsu and Ye Guangfu. In addition, there are four astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission aboard a Crew Dragon capsule. This mission, which began on September 10, 2024, aims to discover new reports in private space exploration, including a planned spacewalk by Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis on September 12, 2024.
Records and milestones
The record for most people in space at one time was 20, set briefly in May 2023 and then again on January 26, 2024, when six space tourists joined 14 astronauts in orbit. For those who consider the Kármán Line the boundary of space, the record for most people in space remains at 19, tied by the launch of the Soyuz and Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard mission on December 11, 2021.
This achievement reflects the increasing pace of human space exploration and international cooperation in space.
