NASA’s Frank Rubio unexpectedly sets U.S. space record

On Wednesday, a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth after being stuck in space for a little over a year.

According to The Associated Press, American Frank Rubio set a record for the longest U.S. spaceflight, which was a result of an unexpectedly extended stay.

ABC’s Mary Kekatos reports that Rubio had been aboard the International Space Station with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin since September 21, 2022, “in a mission that was only supposed to last six months.”

Kekatos adds that in December 2022, “the day a scheduled spacewalk was planned, an external leak was detected from the Russian spacecraft, later determined to have been caused by a micrometeorite impact.”

That incident ultimately extended the astronauts’ stay “for an additional six months,” Kekatos explains, after the spacecraft was unable to perform a crew return.

The Soyuz MS-22 returned to Earth unmanned, and Kekatos reports that MS-23 was launched this past February and docked at the ISS as a replacement for the crew’s return Wednesday.

When Rubio, 47, and his two colleagues returned to Earth on Wednesday, landing in Kazakhstan, they had officially spent 371 consecutive days in space.

In a social media post this week, NASA congratulated Rubio, writing, “After 371 days of exploration and @ISS_Research in low Earth orbit, Frank Rubio is back on the ground.”

Kekatos writes that over the year-long mission, “Rubio and the other crew members have conducted numerous scientific experiments, including studying how bacteria adapt to spaceflight, using water-based and air-based techniques to grow tomatoes, and testing an expandable capsule for use in future space habitats.” Read more here.

Prior to joining NASA, Rubio – a Florida native – graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1998.

NASA says that while he was at the U.S. Military Academy, Rubio earned a Doctorate of Medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 2010.

Read more here.

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