Frank Rubio, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin accidentally broke the American record for the longest time spent up in space. The trio were only supposed to be in space for 6 months, but due to a coolant leakage they were in space for 371 days.

While they were travelling to the International Space Station, their capsule, the Soy 42, was damaged. It was damaged after space junk flew into the capsule which caused a coolant leak.

On 27 September 2023, Rubio returned and landed in Kazakhstan.

The 47-year-old American astronaut, who had never left Earth before the mission, told reporters: “It is good to be home.”

Rubio, who is also an army doctor and a helicopter pilot, explained he looks forward to the quiet of his backyard compared with the constant drone and hum of machinery while aboard the space station. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said: “Frank’s record breaking time in space is not just a milestone, it’s a major contribution to our understanding of long duration space missions.”

A NASA astronaut has broken the American record for the most amount of time spent in space. Frank Rubio, alongside two Russian cosmonauts, was meant to stay at the International Space Station for six months, but that six months ended up turning into a year.

Rubio landed back in Kazakhstan on 27 September 2023. He beat fellow American astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s record by two weeks.

Their original return capsule was damaged by space junk whilst docking on the ISS in March.

Rubio, who went to space to test how bacteria behave in microgravity, said he would never have agreed to do the mission if he had been informed that it was a one year mission.

Rubio missed many family events while he was at the International Space Station. He didn’t see his daughter return from the US Naval Academy and another daughter left to join the US Military Academy.

Rubio said: “Hugging my wife and kids is going to be paramount and I’ll probably focus on that for the first couple of days.”

In a statement, NASA thanked Rubio, saying: “He embodies the true pioneer spirit that will pave the way for future exploration to the Moon and beyond.”