In the final minutes of Rubio’s 371-day stay on the International Space Station, NASA live feed Cameras showed Rubio shaking hands with friends, hugging them, and occasionally smiling and looking at his watch. Rubio’s final act at the space center was to take a last-minute photo before boarding the Soyuz MS-23 to return home. The spacecraft’s hatch closed at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday, NASA said.
He is expected to arrive in Kazakhstan around 7 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. According to NASA.
For several uncertain months, Rubio’s return was in doubt. The spacecraft he boarded was a hasty replacement for the Soyuz, which launched on September 21, 2022, to take him and two Russian cosmonauts, Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Peterin, to the International Space Station. It was a ship. Because of the ship’s coolant leak, NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos plan to send Rubio and his stranded crew a replacement spacecraft to return home, as well as new astronauts to rescue them. The team arrived late.
That doubled Rubio’s planned six-month stay on the International Space Station, setting a NASA record. Rubio’s 371 days in space surpassed the previous record of 355 days held by Mark Vande Hei, who returned from the space station in March 2022. According to NASA, Rubio traveled 157 million miles during his mission, or 5,963 times around the Earth. Said.
Russian cosmonaut holds world record for consecutive spaceflights Valery Polyakovspent 437 days on the Russian space station Mir from 1994 to 1995.
Rubio told reporters last week that spending extra time away from his family in Miami had taken its toll. If he had been faced with the prospect of spending a year on the ISS, he says, “I probably would have said no.” But he knew that as an astronaut he was faced with the unexpected. Rubio credits his 28 other crew members, who rotated around the space station during his stay, for keeping his spirits up.
“Being on a plane with so many people… it’s really special,” Rubio told the magazine in September. interview Vande Hei shared by NASA.
Rubio made the most of his extra time in orbit. He helped conduct several scientific experiments on the International Space Station, including six aimed at studying the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. Rubio will grow tomatoes inside the space station, test zero-gravity exercise equipment and collect biological samples that will help NASA plan future missions to the moon and Mars that could last even longer than his spaceflight. authorities said. Said.
But even greater than Rubio’s feat of resilience, he told Vande Hei, was the accomplishment of his family.
“My family is actually kind of the foundation that has inspired me to hopefully maintain some good attitude while I’m here,” Rubio said. “The resilience my wife and kids have shown. They’ve faced many challenges this past year and have just grown through the entire process.”
Rubio said he plans to relax in the tranquility of his backyard in Miami when he returns to Earth. After arriving in Kazakhstan, I fly back to Houston with NASA and am just one flight away from home. I hope this doesn’t get delayed.
Andrew Jeong in Seoul contributed to this report.