U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio, who set a new record for the longest continuous space flight by an American, has returned to Earth along with two Russian cosmonauts. The trio landed in Kazakhstan after spending over a year aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Their Soyuz MS-23 capsule undocked from the ISS slightly ahead of schedule and took approximately three and a half hours to reach Earth, landing southeast of the city of Zhezqazghan.
Upon landing, Rubio, 47, expressed his relief, saying, “It’s good to be home.” He was joined by Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, 48, and Dmitry Petelin, 40. When asked about his crewmates, Rubio responded positively, saying, “Fantastic, yeah, everybody did really well.”
Rubio received a Russian matryoshka doll as a gift, while Prokopyev was pictured smiling with a watermelon he had requested for his landing. When asked what he brought back from space, Prokopyev humorously replied, “A good mood.”
Russian mission control reported that all three crew members were in good health after spending just over a year on the ISS. They landed on schedule at 1117 GMT.
Rubio’s record-breaking journey saw him spending 371 consecutive days in orbit, surpassing the previous NASA record of 355 days set by retired astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Rubio is also the first American to spend a full year in space.
Despite breaking the American record, Rubio and his Russian colleagues still fall short of the world record held by Russia’s Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 consecutive days and 18 hours on the Mir space station between January 1994 and March 1995. Polyakov passed away last September at the age of 80.
Rubio, the son of Salvadoran parents born in Los Angeles but raised in Miami, has a diverse background as a board-certified family physician, flight surgeon, former U.S. Army special forces officer, and a decorated Blackhawk helicopter pilot with combat experience in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Reflecting on his extended mission, Rubio admitted that he might have turned it down if he had known it would last over a year due to family obligations. However, he ultimately embraced the mission and looks forward to regaining his sense of balance and strength after an extended period in microgravity.
Rubio expressed his anticipation of returning to the tranquility of his backyard compared to the constant noise of machinery on the ISS.
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