NASA astronaut Frank Rubio landed safely on Earth with his crewmates this Wednesday after spending 371 days in space. This is the longest period ever completed by an American astronaut, surpassing the previous record of 355 days held by Mark Vande Hei.
Frank Rubio, born in the USA to Salvadoran parents, has spent 371 days in space, setting a new record for NASA astronauts. Globally, the record for longest continuous time in space is held by Valeri Poliakov, a cosmonaut who spent 437 days aboard the MIR space station between 1994 and 1995. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev also ranks second with a 379-day stay in the late 1990s.
Frank Rubio, born in Los Angeles (USA) to Salvadoran parents, told the media that the first thing on his list of priorities upon returning to solid ground is to embrace his wife and children. Early yesterday, he left the International Space Station (ISS) with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, and hours later made a safe parachute-assisted landing southeast of the remote city of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
“Welcome home, Frank!” NASA expressed through its Twitter account. “The time Frank has spent in space, breaking records, is not just a milestone; it is a significant contribution to our understanding of long-duration space missions,” noted NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
“Our astronauts make extraordinary sacrifices, leaving behind their homes and loved ones to further our discoveries,” he added. “NASA is immensely grateful for Frank’s dedicated service to our nation and the invaluable scientific contributions he made on the ISS. He embodies the true pioneering spirit that will pave the way for future explorations to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
Rubio embarked on his first spaceflight on September 21, 2022, alongside Prokopyev and Petelin. During his mission, he completed 5,936 orbits and traveled over 252 million kilometers, roughly equivalent to 328 round trips to the Moon. He witnessed the arrival of 15 spacecraft and the departure of 14 spacecraft on crewed and uncrewed cargo missions.
Scientific activities
He also dedicated many hours to scientific activities aboard the space station, conducting a variety of tasks ranging from plant research to physical sciences studies.
An unexpected extended mission
Originally planned for a six-month stay in space, Rubio’s return was delayed due to a malfunction in the Soyuz MS-22 capsule in which they were supposed to return. The spacecraft returned without its crew due to a coolant leak. It was necessary to wait for the Soyuz MS-23 to launch as a replacement on February 23, 2023.
Rubio’s extended mission provides researchers with the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration space flights on humans, as NASA plans to return to the Moon through the Artemis missions and prepare for Mars exploration.
For now, Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin have returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-23. After post-landing medical checks, the crew will travel to Karaganda (Kazakhstan). Following this, the American astronaut will board a NASA plane bound for Houston.
The remaining crew on the station
With the undocking of Soyuz, Expedition 70 officially began aboard the station. NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli remain onboard the orbital outpost alongside European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who became station commander on September 26, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub.
Mogensen, Moghbeli, Furukawa, and Borisov will return to Earth in February 2024, after a brief handover with the NASA SpaceX Crew-8 mission crew. O’Hara is scheduled to return to Earth in March 2024, while Kononenko and Chub will spend a year aboard the station and return home in September 2024.
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