Astronaut stranded in space for 311 days after country that sent him no longer existed

One astronaut was stranded in space for nearly a year after the country that sent him out into orbit ceased to exist.

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev spent 311 days trapped above our atmosphere in the Mir Space Station.

This is because during his mission, the Soviet Union dissolved, throwing his fate into jeopardy.

The cosmonaut was trapped in space (MAXIM MARMUR/AFP via Getty Images)

His mission into space began in May 1991 and in July, Krikalev agreed to remain onboard as a flight engineer for the next crew.

However, on December 26 1991, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the cosmonaut found himself in a strange situation.

With both the Baikonur Cosmodrome and the landing area both located in the newly independent Kazakhstan, there was a huge amount of uncertainty as to how or when Krikalev could return home.

As a result, he spent twice as much time in orbit than originally planned before finally coming back down to Earth on March 25 1992.

Krikalev is sometimes referred to as the ‘last Soviet citizen’.

Many people were shocked to find out about his story on social media, with some taking to the comment section to share their thoughts.

On YouTube, one person wrote: “Worst case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

While another simply said: “Well, that's terrifying.”

Sergei Krikalev has spent a lot of time in space (NASA)

A third posted: “I definitely don't want to be in that position.”

A fourth person added: “Being forgotten by your own comrades. It's even worse now that you've been left behind in space with no way to reach Earth. The USSR is now forever a disgrace! Nobody deserves to be left out in a place we know very little about.”

A fifth said: “Um, MOM cAn YoU pICk mE up FrOM SpAcE?”

And another person wrote: “So for a short amount of time, the USSR own the space.”

This wasn’t Krikalev’s final time in space as he returned to orbit in 1994, taking part in the first joint US and Russian Space Shuttle Mission.

In December 1998, he also became the first person to enter the International Space Station along with NASA astronaut Robert Cabana.

The pair were tasked were turning on the lights in the US module Unity.

Because the cosmonaut had spent so much time in space, where he was traveling at high velocities, he experienced time dilation.

This basically means a ‘slowing down of clocks’, causing him to be 0.02 seconds younger than other people born at the same time as him.