Three Astronauts Return to Earth, One After Setting US Space Record Written 28 September 2023
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Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Frank Rubio of NASA and Sultan Alneyadi of UAE return the station’s Treadmill 2 to its normal configuration inside the ISS’s Tranquility module after an inspection and cleaning of its electronic components. | Credit: NASA
The AP reports that a NASA astronaut and “two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth on Wednesday after being stuck in space for just over a year. American Frank Rubio set a record for the longest U.S. spaceflight – a result of the extended stay.” The trio landed in “a remote area of Kazakhstan, descending in a Soyuz capsule that was rushed up as a replacement after their original ride was hit by space junk and lost all its coolant while docked to the International Space Station.” What should have been “a 180-day mission turned into a 371-day stay. Rubio spent more than two weeks longer in space than Mark Vande Hei, who held NASA’s previous endurance record for a single spaceflight.”
Full Story (Associated Press)