NASA’S Rubio sets US space record as 3 return
A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth on Wednesday after being stuck in space for just over a year. American Frank Rubio set a record for the longest U.S. spaceflight — a result of the extended stay.
The three-person crew landed in a remote area of Kazakhstan, descending in a Soyuz capsule rushed up as a replacement after their original ride was hit by space junk and lost all its coolant while docked to the International Space Station.
What should have been a 180-day mission turned into a 371-day stay.
Rubio spent more than two weeks longer in space than Mark Vande Hei, who held NASA’S previous endurance record for a single spaceflight. Russia holds the world record of 437 days, set in the mid-1990s.
The Soyuz capsule that brought Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, 48, and Dmitri Petelin, 40, back was a replacement launched in February. Russian engineers suspect a piece of space junk pierced the radiator of their original capsule late last year, midway through what should have been a six-month mission.
Engineers worried that without cooling, the capsule’s electronics and any occupants could overheat to dangerous levels, so the craft returned empty.
Their replacements arrived nearly two weeks ago.
“No one deserves to go home to their families more than you,” the space station’s new commander, Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, said earlier this week.
Prokopyev told ground controllers throughout the descent that all three were feeling good.
“It’s good to be home,” Rubio, 47, an Army doctor and helicopter pilot, said after being pulled from the capsule.