On Monday, Russia's state space agency Roscosmos announced that cosmonaut Valery Polyakov has died at age 80, cause of death was not stated.
Polyakov set the world record for the longest single stay in space with 437 days and 18 hours aboard the Mir space station from January 1994 to March 1995, which earned him the Hero of Russia title.
Polyakov made a total of two space expeditions and was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his first space flight from August 1988 to April 1989, spedning 240 days and 22 hours in orbit.
On April 24, 1942, Polyakov was born in Tula. He specialized in astronautics medicine and earned a doctoral degree at a Moscow medical school.
