Longest-Staying Astronaut: Frank Rubio Breaks US Record for Longest Spaceflight

(Photo: DMITRY LOVETSKY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, a member of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 68 main crew, walks to board the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft prior to the launch at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 21, 2022. Rubio is now the new record-holder for the longest single spaceflight of a US astronaut, scheduled to clock in at 371 consecutive days in space by the time he returns to Earth later in September 2023.

It's official: NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is now the longest-flying American in space. Rubio is scheduled to fly for 371 days in orbit, breaking the record of fellow astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who spent 355 days before returning to Earth.

Astronaut Frank Rubio has just set a new U.S. spaceflight record, eclipsing the previous record of 355 consecutive days aboard the @Space_Station. This is now the single longest mission for any of our @NASA_Astronauts.

He is set to return to Earth on Sept. 27, when he will… pic.twitter.com/HfWslYlvkW
— NASA (@NASA) September 11, 2023

Unexpected Record Breaker

Rubio was not supposed to stay for over a year in the International Space Station, but a coolant leak in the Soyuz capsule he and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin came in with forced them to double the time of their stay in the orbital laboratory.

They are scheduled to return in a replacement Soyuz craft on September 27 after the arrival of another Soyuz capsule with a new set of crew who are set to launch to the station by Friday (September 13).

Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov still retains the longest-ever recorded single spaceflight of all time of 437 days, which was set in the mid-1990s.

Consequences of a Long-Duration Spaceflight

Aside from the physical strains of microgravity, a single long-duration spaceflight also meant those who stay in space would miss out on important dates and events on Earth, such as birthdays, anniversaries, and personal family milestones.

"On a personal level, it was pretty tough, just because I was missing my family and I knew I was going to miss some pretty big milestones, for my kids, especially," Rubio told the Associated Press in an earlier interview. "We've tried really hard to stay in touch with one another... My wife, my kids, they've been troopers, and they've really handled it incredibly well."