Astronaut’s return to space delayed, returning in September
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who was supposed to leave the International Space Station in March, will return to Earth in September. He will return with two other Russian cosmonauts, doubling his stay on the station for just over a year. (May 26th)
AP
- The crew was scheduled to launch on September 21, 2022, for a six-month mission before their stay at the space station was extended due to a coolant leak on the return craft.
- Rubio and his fellow Russians landed in a remote part of Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning after spending 371 years in space.
- Before Rubio’s mission, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei was the most consecutive American to spend time in space, returning to Earth in 2022 after 355 days.
NASA astronaut frank rubio It’s not like he and two Russian cosmonauts were riding a rocket more than a year ago trying to break a spaceflight record. international space station.
This mission was scheduled to last only six months. But that was before a piece of space junk pierced the explorer’s original capsule late last year, necessitating a new Soyuz spacecraft to be rushed back to Earth.
In the end, Rubio would spend 371 days in space by the end of his mission. According to NASA. Rubio and his Russian companions Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Peterin landed in a remote part of Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning in a replacement Soyuz capsule that arrived at the space station just two weeks ago.
It may not have been Rubio’s intention, but his unexpected long stay in space inspired him to make history. The 47-year-old astronaut currently holds the U.S. record for longest spaceflight, more than doubling the previous duration record set in 2022. several weeks.
“I’m happy to go home,” Rubio said after being pulled from the capsule. According to the Associated Press.
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Expedition to the space station is expected to last six months
When Rubio and the two astronauts launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 21, 2022, they thought they would return to Earth the following March aboard the same spacecraft.
But that wasn’t the case.
Russia’s MS-22 Soyuz was discovered to be leaking coolant while docking at the space station in December, and the three crew members had to return home on a new ship. NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos later determined that a micrometeorite had damaged the spacecraft’s radiator, causing coolant to spew into space for several hours.
Engineers feared that without cooling, the capsule’s electronics and crew could overheat to dangerous levels. Instead, NASA and Roscosmos sent a replacement spacecraft to the stranded crew in February, and the spacecraft returned home empty while the arrival of a new team of astronauts to rescue them was delayed.
Since launching from Kazakhstan last September, Rubio and his crew have logged more than 157 million miles and orbited Earth 5,963 times, according to NASA. Said. After undocking from the space station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft at 3:54 a.m. ET this morning, the trio landed as scheduled at 7:17 a.m. in a Kazakh steppe southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan. According to the space agency.
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Who held the previous American spaceflight record?
Rubio’s stay in space was 16 days longer than Mark Vande Hei’s time on the International Space Station.
Vande Hei returned to Earth in March 2022 after spending 355 days in space, the longest consecutive spaceflight by an American at the time.
But it was Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, whose 437 consecutive days in space in the mid-1990s remains a world record. Poliakov’s groundbreaking missions took place from 1994 to 1995 on the Russian space station Mir. According to Astronomy.com.
Who is Frank Rubio?
Army doctor and helicopter pilot Rubio joined NASA in 2017..
Prior to joining the space program, Mr. Rubio flew combat flight missions for the U.S. Army in Black Hawk helicopters during deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Rubio earned his MD in 2010 and continues to work as a board-certified family physician and flight surgeon.
Originally from Los Angeles, Rubio lives with his family in Miami, Florida.
Rubio’s year-long expedition to the International Space Station was his first space mission.
Rubio makes the most of his time on the space station Worked on numerous scientific projectsinclude Study how bacteria adapt About spaceflight and how future astronauts can exercise and maintain optimal physical health. He also conducted three spacewalks of more than 21 hours.
This research may prove invaluable for future missions, but in September interview In an interview with Vande Hei shared by NASA, Rubio said his proudest moment was having the opportunity to fly with 28 different people on the space station.
“They were all great crew members and very special people. They hold a special place now because I was able to share this experience with them,” Rubio said. Ta. “That is a memory I will cherish forever.”
Now that they have landed, Rubio and fellow Russians Prokopyev and Peterin were to be flown from the landing site to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, the American astronauts were supposed to board a NASA plane and return to Houston, but this time their trip will not be delayed.
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Contribution: Associated Press
Eric Lagatta covers the latest and trending news for USA TODAY. Please contact elagatta@gannett.com.