U.S. Astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian Cosmonauts Return to Earth After Record-Breaking Space Mission

The Soyuz MS-23 capsule carrying the crew undocked from the ISS, landing southeast of the city of Zhezqazghan, Kazakhstan. The descent from the ISS took approximately three and a half hours, concluding with a safe landing.

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Both Moscow mission control and Russia’s space corporation, Roscosmos, confirmed that the crew members were in good health after their extended space voyage.

Rubio, 47 years old and embarking on his first space journey, returned to Earth with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, 48, and Dmitry Petelin, 40. Prokopyev was seen smiling beside the capsule upon landing.

The crew faced an unexpected extension of their mission, totalling 371 days in orbit, due to a leak in their original spacecraft, which necessitated the dispatch of a replacement. This unanticipated extension allowed Rubio to surpass NASA’s previous record of 355 consecutive days in space, held by retired U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Rubio’s accomplishment also marked him as the first American to complete a full year in space.

It’s worth noting that the world record for the longest continuous space mission is held by Russia’s Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 consecutive days and 18 hours aboard the Mir space station between January 1994 and March 1995. Polyakov passed away in September at the age of 80.

Roscosmos revealed that Sergey Prokopyev had accumulated a total of more than 567 days in space, including previous missions.

Frank Rubio, born to Salvadoran parents in Los Angeles and raised in Miami, boasts a diverse background. He is a board-certified family physician and flight surgeon, a former U.S. Army special forces officer, and a decorated Blackhawk helicopter pilot with combat experience in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Speaking to reporters from space eight days before his return, Rubio acknowledged that he might have declined the mission if he had known in advance that it would last for at least a year, citing family obligations. However, he ultimately accepted the challenge with honour and grace. Rubio anticipates that it will take several months to fully readjust to Earth’s gravity and that he looks forward to the serenity of his backyard after the constant background noise of machinery aboard the ISS.