NASA astronaut returns after record 371-day stay aboard ISS
After spending 371 days in space and making 5,963 orbits of the Earth, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio has returned to Earth, alongside Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. The trio departed from the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and landed in Kazakhstan at around 4:48pm IST. Rubio's historic mission on the International Space Station (ISS) surpasses the previous American record of 355 days, held by NASA's Mark Vande Hei.
Rubio's stay aboard the ISS was extended after coolant leak
Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin left for the ISS on September 21, 2022, on a mission that was supposed to last six months. However, their stay on the ISS was extended after a coolant leak was discovered on the Soyuz spacecraft in December 2022. The leak rendered the vehicle unsafe for the astronauts' return, requiring another Soyuz to be sent. As a result, the three astronauts remained aboard the space station for twice as long as originally planned.
Rubio is also an active-duty Army physician
Despite escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, NASA and Roscosmos have maintained their partnership in space exploration. Rubio's journey to the ISS was made possible through a crew exchange agreement established between the two agencies in the summer of 2022. He is also an active-duty Army physician, part of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command's Army Astronaut Detachment. Rubio currently holds the record for the "longest single spaceflight by an American."
