Three Astronauts Return To Earth, NASA’s Rubio Sets US Space Record

Astronaut Frank Rubio, cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin returned to earth after an unexpected, extended stay of over a year at the space station. With this, Frank Rubio has set the record for the longest US spaceflight so far, outweighing the endurance record which was set in by Mark Vande Hei. Rubio, though not by plan, has recorded 371 days, which is two weeks more than Mark Vande Hei, with a record of 355 days stay at space, said the ET. The world record on this is held by Russia with 437 days which was in the mid-1990’s.

The descend of the trio was in a Soyuz capsule which was sent in as a quick replacement when their actual spacecraft capsule was hit by space junk and had lost all its coolant when it was docked at the international space station. The landing of the replaced Soyuz capsule was at a remote area in Kazakhstan.

The mission was originally only for 180 days. The Russian engineers suspects that the loss of coolant could be caused by space junk hit on the radiator of the original capsule. Without the coolant, the capsule, its electronics and occupants could heat up to very dangerous levels, so the capsule was to return empty while a replacement capsule was sent in February.

Earlier this week, the International space station’s new commander, Andreas Mogensen had said that “no one deserves to go home to their families more than you,” said the Columbian .

NASA chief Bill Nelson said through his X handle, “Your dedication is truly out of this world, Frank!”

The capsule, while on the descend experienced more than four times the gravitational force as it made its way through the atmosphere to land on its side at the Kazakh steppes. Through the descending journey, Cosmonaut Prokopyev communicated to the ground controllers that all the three were feeling good. As the capsule landed, the helicopters which were at standby, stepped in with recovery crew to help the trio.

After being pulled out of the space capsule, Rubio said, “it”s good to be home.”

Later, at a news conference, Rubio, 47, an Army doctor and helicopter pilot, said that, if asked at the onset of the journey for a full year’s stay at the space station, he would have never agreed, he said he has missed family milestones including his elder child finishing her first year at the U.S. Naval Academy and another heading off to West Point, reported the ET. He added that the psychological part of spending long time in space was tougher than he expected.

This was the first spaceflight for astronaut Rubio and cosmonaut Petelin, 40, who is an engineer. While cosmonaut Prokopyev, 48, an engineer and pilot, has undergone two long station stints. Rubio could hold on to his record for, NASA does not have any missions which could last a year for some time, reported the Columbian.

Their capsule logged 157 million miles i.e., 253 million kilometers since their launch from Kazakhstan last September and has circled the world nearly 6,000 times.

(With inputs from the Columbian and the ET)