Record-setting US astronaut returns to Earth

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Russian colleagues return from the International Space Station (ISS) on Russia's Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft.

The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft carrying three astronauts landed safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 6:17 p.m. on September 27 (Hanoi time), ending a 371-day mission on the ISS. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio became the first American to spend a full year in space. The other two crew members, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin from the Russian space agency Roscosmos, also spent a full year on the ISS.

After returning, the trio will fly to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Prokopyev and Petelin will then return to Star City, a suburb of Moscow, while Rubio will be flown by NASA to Houston and NASA's Johnson Space Center.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio (in white) rests after landing. Photo: Roscosmos/Reuters — NASA astronaut Frank Rubio (in white) rests after landing. Photo: *Roscosmos/Reuters*

The return trip made Rubio the new record holder for the longest mission ever flown by an American astronaut. On September 11, he surpassed the previous record of 355 days, set by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei in 2022.

Meanwhile, Prokopyev and Petelin are the sixth and seventh Russians to spend at least a year in space. Soviet cosmonauts Sergey Avdeev, Musa Manarov, Vladimir Titov and Valery Polyakov spent more than 365 days aboard the former Mir space station. Polyakov, who died in 2022, still holds the world record for the longest space mission at 437 days. The 371-day mission of Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio is the third longest in history.

The trio had no idea they would be on the ISS for so long when they took off on Soyuz MS-22 on September 21, 2022. Their mission was extended six months beyond schedule after Soyuz MS-22 developed a coolant leak and was no longer safe enough to return them to Earth. Russia launched a rescue ship, Soyuz MS-23, but the return trip was delayed to maintain crew rotation schedules.

The Soyuz MS-22/MS-23 mission was Prokopyev's second space flight. To date, he has spent a total of 568 days outside Earth, ranking 12th in the world. Meanwhile, this was the first space flight for Petelin and Rubio. The trio orbited the Earth 5,936 times, traveling 253,330,550 km, approximately equivalent to 328 round trips to the Moon.

Thu Thao (According to Space )

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