US Astronaut to Spend Almost Year Aboard ISS, to Set New Women's Record - Source

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US astronaut Christina Cook will spend almost a year aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and will set a new women's record for the longest time in space, a rocket and space industry source told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"Taking into account that the launch and the landing of the Soyuz MS-13 spaceship have been postponed at the request of NASA from July 6 to 20 and from December 18 to February 6, respectively, Christina Cook, which will return to Earth on this spacecraft together with Russian [cosmonaut] Alexander Skvortsov and Italian Luca Parmitano, will be in space 392 days, or 11 months," the source said.

READ MORE: US Astronauts Have 15 Minutes to Evacuate to Russian Part of ISS If NH3 Leaks

Cook will set a new women's record for the longest spaceflight, beating US astronaut Peggy Whitson, who spent 289 days in space in 2016-2017, according to the source.

Previously, a source in the aerospace industry told Sputnik that the Russian manned Soyuz spacecraft will perform record-long missions to the International Space Station, lasting for seven months, this year. The official added that Soyuz spacecraft usually spent around 200 days docked to the ISS.