Station skipper sets new U.S. space record

NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria is the new American champion of space exploration.

Living and working aboard the International Space Station since Sept. 20, the current outpost commander on Monday set a new record for the longest mission in the history of the U.S. space program.

The old benchmark -- 196 days -- was tallied by former astronauts Carl Walz and Dan Bursch during the fourth expedition to the station, which stretched from Dec. 5, 2001 through June 19, 2002.

Lopez-Alegria will have spent 214 days in space when he returns to Earth April 20 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The record is considered significant because long stays on the station are enabling NASA to prepare for even lengthier missions to the moon, Mars or other celestial destinations. Lopez-Alegria also is the American spacewalking champ. He's performed 10 spacewalks during his career as an astronaut.

The new mission duration record isn't expected to stand long.

NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams, who arrived at the station in December, will be returning to Earth later than expected as a result of a hail storm that damaged a shuttle external tank and pushed back the schedule of flights for 2007.

As it stands, Williams is on track to set a new U.S. record around July 11. Her ride home -- shuttle Endeavour -- had been scheduled to launch in late June but now is expected to be delayed at least a month.

The world record for the longest stay in space -- 438 days -- was set by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov during a mission that launched to the former space station Mir in January 1994.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the NASA photo of Michael Lopez-Alegria performing a fit-check of a Russian Orlan spacesuit in the Russian Pirs docking compartment at the International Space Station. The fit-check was carried out two days before Lopez-Alegria and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin performed a spacewalk aimed at fixing a navigation antenna that failed to retract fully when a Progress cargo carrier arrived at the outpost last fall.