On September 11, NASA announced that astronaut Frank Rubio had broken the previous U.S. spaceflight record by spending 355 consecutive days aboard the Space Station.
This is now the longest time any NASA astronaut has spent on a single mission. He is expected to return to Earth on September 27, after spending a total of 371 days in space.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio will return to Earth on September 27 after spending 371 days in space, breaking the record for the longest single spaceflight by an American.
Alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts, Rubio undocked his Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft and land in Kazakhstan, before being flown to Karaganda and then back to Houston.
After landing, Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin will be flown to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Rubio will then take a NASA plane back to Houston.
NASA will provide comprehensive coverage of the event from hatch closing through landing, which will begin at midnight EDT and will be available for live streaming on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
Rubio launched into space on September 21, 2022, and on September 11, he broke the former record of 355 days held by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
The crewmates were initially scheduled to return to Earth in March, but their Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft experienced a coolant leak that extended their mission.
Rubio was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. The Florida native graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1998 and earned a Doctorate of Medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 2010.
Prior to attending medical school, he served as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot and flew more than 1,100 hours, including more than 600 hours of combat and imminent danger time during deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Dr. Rubio is a board-certified family physician and flight surgeon. At the time of his selection, he was serving in the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Carson, CO.
Astronaut Frank Rubio has just set a new U.S. spaceflight record, eclipsing the previous record of 355 consecutive days aboard the @Space_Station. This is now the single longest mission for any of our @NASA_Astronauts.
He is set to return to Earth on Sept. 27, when he will… pic.twitter.com/HfWslYlvkW
— NASA (@NASA) September 11, 2023
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been tasked with…
Brown and Caldwell, a leading environmental engineering and construction firm,…
Humboldt State University, one of four campuses within the California…
