NASA
On October 1, 2022, as the Orbiting Laboratory flies 463 miles over southeastern England, NASA astronaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio will fly the International Space Station’s It can be seen inside the cupola, which is a window into the world.
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Astronaut Frank Rubio has now spent more than 355 days in low Earth orbit, breaking the record for longest space mission by a U.S. astronaut.
Mr. Rubio — who has been on the International Space Station since September 2022 — lost The previous record was held by a retired NASA astronaut. mark vande heiMonday at 1:40 p.m. ET, a space agency spokesperson said.
Additionally, Rubio is expected to reach another important milestone in the coming weeks. Russia’s Soyuz capsule is not scheduled to return him and his two fellow cosmonauts, Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Peterin, to Earth before September 27.
That means Rubio will spend at least 371 days in orbit after completing his mission. He is on track to become the first American to spend more than a calendar year in microgravity.
But Rubio’s mission wasn’t originally about breaking records.
When Rubio departed for the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule on September 21, 2022, he and his crew believed they were on a six-month mission. However, the spacecraft carrying Mr. Rubio and his two Russian colleagues A cooling water leak occurred During December. Officials with Russia’s space agency Roscosmos later determined the spacecraft was unsafe to return the crew.
Instead, the Soyuz MS-22 capsule returned to Earth without a crew on March 28. Roscosmos then launched a replacement spacecraft, MS-23. docked Rubio’s return date has been pushed back to September as Russia prepares its next Soyuz spacecraft. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on Friday with a new crew of two astronauts and a NASA astronaut.
To commemorate Rubio’s accomplishment, he recorded a conversation with Vande Hei on September 5th. NASA plans to broadcast the footage Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET. media channels.
“Mr. Rubio’s space journey exemplifies the essence of exploration,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an article Monday. statement Posted on social media.
“He broke the record for the longest time in space for a @NASA U.S. astronaut while also paving the way for future generations of astronauts,” the statement said. “Frank, your dedication is truly out of this world!”
NASA
On November 15, 2022, Rubio is tethered to the starboard truss structure of the International Space Station during an extravehicular activity.
If all goes to plan and Rubio departs on September 27, his 371-day stay will not set the world record for longest space mission. The title is held by the late Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who flew in orbit for 437 consecutive days on Russia’s Mir space station from January 1994 to March 1995.
Vande Hei will not be able to stay in space for consecutive days in 2022 after NASA and Roscosmos decided to extend his stay because Russia sent two crew members to the space station to shoot a movie. had set a new American record. Vande Hei’s return was delayed due to increased traffic to the orbiting laboratory, but Said He knew before he arrived that his mission might be extended.
Before Vande Hei, American astronaut Scott Kelly held the title for longest spaceflight by an American with a 340-day mission. This mission tour is an extended mission planned by NASA. Study long-term effects of spaceflight into the human body.
Russian cosmonauts also hold the current record for the most cumulative days in space.Gennady Padalka earned He beat another astronaut for this title in 2015 with five spaceflights totaling 879 days.
The U.S. record for the most days in space is held by Peggy Whitson, who spent a total of 675 days in orbit. Mr. Whitson is I retired In 2018, astronauts from the NASA Astronaut Corps broke that record in 2023. She currently works as a civilian astronaut on Axiom Her Space. 2 business trips The space station now allows paying customers to experience a trip to an orbiting laboratory with seasoned professional astronauts.
Rubio traveled to the space station on a Russian spacecraft as part of his next mission. Crew exchange agreement The agreement was hastily concluded between NASA and Roscosmos in the summer of 2022.
NASA officials assigned Rubio aboard the Soyuz MS-22, and Roscosmos flew astronaut Anna Kikina aboard the Soyuz MS-22. SpaceX Crew Dragon Mission Flying in October 2022, returned home March 11.
Despite geopolitical tensions between the United States and Russia due to the escalating war in Ukraine, NASA believes that the partnership with Roscosmos is essential to continue space station operations and the valuable scientific research conducted on the space station. I have repeatedly said that there is.
At the time the rideshare agreement was announced, NASA said in a statement that entering into such an agreement with Russia is critical to ensuring the “continued safe operation” of the space station. If either Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft or SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule were to run into problems and be grounded, the seat swap agreement would allow both U.S. and Russian astronauts to remain in space. Access to the station is guaranteed.
Roscosmos did not have to rely on SpaceX’s capsule to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22 crew ship, but the MS-23 spacecraft was ready for flight and the Because leaks didn’t necessarily indicate an underlying problem. Officials pointed out that it is similar to other Soyuz spacecraft.
Joel Montalbano, NASA’s International Space Station program manager, said at a press conference in July that Roscosmos’ investigation into the issue found that the cause of the leak was likely an “external force” and that orbital debris was likely the cause of the leak. This indicates that a portion of the spacecraft likely collided with the spacecraft.
“The NASA team also investigated independently of the Russian team, but based on the information provided by our Russian colleagues, nothing other than some kind of external force or debris or something like that I couldn’t find it, that’s it,” Montalbano said.
During his time in space, Rubio has watched several astronauts rotate through SpaceX vehicles. Apart from the Axiom-2 crew that visited in May, SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts come and go Since Rubio arrived. and the Crew-7 group (includes astronauts from NASA, Roscosmos, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and European Space Agency) Arrived At the station in August.