Mission Extended After Collision with Suspected Space Debris
Longest Stay by an American... World Record is 437 Days
Three astronauts of American and Russian nationality, who had been stranded for an extended period on the International Space Station (ISS) due to an unexpected spacecraft malfunction, have returned to Earth.
According to foreign media including the Associated Press (AP) on the 27th (local time), at 5:17 PM the previous day, three astronauts?Frank Rubio from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin?landed in a remote area of Jezkazgan, Kazakhstan, aboard the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft owned by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). It has been 371 days since they departed for space.
Rubio broke the previous American astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s record of the longest stay in space by an American, which was 355 days set in 2022, staying two weeks longer. The world record is held by Russia’s Valeri Polyakov, who stayed 437 days from 1994 to 1995.
The three endured gravitational acceleration four times that of Earth's surface while passing through the atmosphere. During the landing process, Prokopyev communicated via radio to ground controllers that "all three astronauts are feeling good." After the capsule safely landed on the ground, a helicopter carrying rescue personnel approached and transported them.
Rubio expressed his feelings upon exiting the spacecraft, saying, "It feels good to be home." The three astronauts had arrived at the ISS in September last year aboard Russia’s Soyuz M-22.
The original plan was to conduct about 50 experiments and return to Earth in March this year on the same spacecraft, but in December last year, the M-22 was struck by a meteorite, causing a coolant leak. AP pointed out that the object causing the accident was likely space debris. The mission was extended by about six months, and in February, the M-23 spacecraft, which would carry them back, finally succeeded in docking with the ISS.
One week before the return flight, Rubio said at a remote press conference, "If I had known from the start that I would spend a whole year in space, I would not have agreed to the mission," adding, "It was psychologically tougher than I expected."
Due to the extended mission, it was reported that he missed his eldest daughter finishing her first year at the United States Naval Academy, and another child entering the United States Military Academy.
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