Astronaut Frank Rubio, who was originally scheduled to return from his mission aboard the International Space Station in March, will now be returning in September. Rubio will be accompanied by two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, who also extended their time aboard the station to over a year. The crew launched on September 21, 2022, but a coolant leak in their return craft forced them to extend their stay. After spending an impressive 371 days in space, Rubio and his companions landed safely in Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning.
Rubio’s mission was initially intended to last for six months, but a piece of space junk damaged their original capsule, necessitating a new Soyuz spacecraft for their return to Earth. Despite the unforeseen circumstances, Rubio’s extended stay helped him make history by breaking the American record for the longest spaceflight. The 47-year-old astronaut surpassed the previous record set in 2022 by more than two weeks.
After being pulled from the capsule, Rubio expressed his relief at being back on Earth. The crew had covered more than 157 million miles and orbited the Earth 5,963 times during their mission. Rubio’s stay in space was 16 days longer than the previous record holder, Mark Vande Hei.
Before joining the space program, Rubio served as an Army doctor and helicopter pilot, flying combat missions during deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He joined NASA in 2017 and earned a doctorate in medicine in 2010. Throughout his mission, Rubio worked on various scientific projects, including studying the effects of spaceflight on bacteria and exploring exercise techniques for future astronauts. He also conducted three spacewalks totaling over 21 hours.
Now that he has returned to Earth, Rubio and his fellow cosmonauts will be flown from the landing site to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and then Rubio will travel back to Houston on a NASA plane. Despite the unexpected delays and challenges, Rubio reflects on his time in space as a truly special experience, particularly because he had the opportunity to work with and learn from 28 different people aboard the International Space Station.
Rubio’s return in September will mark the end of a remarkable mission that contributed valuable insights for future space explorations.