Most Extreme Human Spaceflight Records

Most Spaceflights by an Astronaut

Franklin Chang-Diaz (shown) and Jerry Ross both went to space seven times aboard NASA's space shuttles. Chang-Diaz made his flights between 1986 and 2002, while Ross made his between 1985 and 2002.

Biggest Space Gathering

During NASA's STS-127 shuttle mission aboard Endeavour in 2009, the shuttle's seven-person crew docked, then went aboard the International Space Station, joining the six spaceflyers already there. The 13-person party was the largest-ever gathering of people in space at the same time. The record has been matched since then. (Only nine of the spaceflyers are pictured here.)

Longest Single Spacewalk

On March 11, 2001, NASA astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms spent 8 hours and 56 minutes outside the space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station during the STS-102 mission, performing some maintenance work and preparing the orbiting lab for the arrival of another module.

Most Women in Space at Once

Four women sped around the world in space at the same time in April 2010. NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson traveled to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spaceship. She was soon joined on the orbiting lab by NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Japan's Naoko Yamazaki, who made the trip aboard the space shuttle Discovery on its STS-131 mission.

Most Expensive Spaceship

The International Space Station has cost $100 billion to date, making the station not not only the most expensive spaceship, but also the most expensive single structure ever built.

Largest Spaceship

The International Space Station sets this record. The space station is so large that it can easily be seen by the unaided eye from the ground (under the right conditions). It measures about 357.5 feet (109 meters) across. There are huge solar arrays at each end of the truss, and they have a wingspan of 239.4 feet (73 m).