Astronaut who accidentally broke record for longest time spent in space finally returns to Earth
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio has returned to Earth after inadvertently breaking the record for the longest amount of time spent in space by an American.
Mr Rubio’s mission, alongside Russian astronauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, was only supposed to last six months.
But the trio ended up spending 371 days in space after the Soyuz capsule that was meant to bring them home was damaged.
Having been at the International Space Station since September 2022, they landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, in a capsule that was sent up to them as a replacement for the faulty one.
The 47-year-old American, who had never left Earth before this mission, told reporters it was “good to be home”, having admitted that he never would have agreed to a full year in space if asked at the beginning.
He ended up missing important family milestones, he said, including the oldest of his four children finishing her first year at the US Naval Academy and another heading off to join the US Military Academy.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio now holds the record for the longest US spaceflight. Pic: AP
“Hugging my wife and kids is going to be paramount, and I’ll probably focus on that for the first couple days,” Mr Rubio said ahead of his return to Houston.
The astronaut, who is also an army doctor and helicopter pilot, beat fellow American Mark Vande Hei’s record for longest time in space by two weeks.
He and his crewmates would have had to stay away from Earth for 437 to beat the record set by Russian Valeri Polyakov in the mid-1990s.
Their aircraft had a coolant leak in December, but their replacement only arrived at the space station around two weeks ago due to shortages.
“No one deserves to go home to their families more than you,” the space station’s commander, Andreas Mogensen, told them ahead of their return.
Frank Rubio minutes after landing back on Earth. Pic: AP
NASA plans to make the most of the mishap, though, as they stated the prolonged mission provides researchers with the opportunity to “observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans”.
Mr Rubio may not want to spend too long being checked over in NASA’s labs – as he said he looks forward to the quiet of his backyard compared with the “constant drone and hum” of machinery while aboard the space station.
NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, said: “Frank’s record-breaking time in space is not just a milestone; it’s a major contribution to our understanding of long-duration space missions.
“NASA is immensely grateful for Frank’s dedicated service to our nation and the invaluable scientific contributions he made on the International Space Station.
“He embodies the true pioneer spirit that will pave the way for future exploration to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
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The three astronauts travelled 157 million miles after launching from Kazakhstan last September, circling the world nearly 6,000 times.
During the mission, Rubio spent many hours on scientific activities aboard the space station, conducting a variety of tasks ranging from plant research to physical sciences studies.
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
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Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
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