NASA's record for the longest single spacecraft broken by a US Astronaut

Frank Rubio, an American astronaut, broke NASA's record for the longest orbit mission. The astronaut spent more than 355 days on the International Space Station.

On Wednesday, in a chat with NASA, Rubio expressed from the International Space Station, "In some ways, it's been an incredible challenge. But in other ways, it's been an incredible blessing."

On Monday, the astronaut broke the old record. He then expressed that he was eager to hit 365 days. Rubio is a doctor by training, along with being a helicopter pilot. On the thought of reaching 355 days, he said, "I think that'll be a really good milestone for our nation to achieve,".

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The record Rubio broke

In 2022, the previous US record was set by Mark Vande. The astronaut spent a total of 355 days in space. The world record, however, is set by Valery Polyakov, a Russian cosmonaut, who spent 437 days in space.

On September 27, Rubio will be returning to Earth, after completing 371 days in space.

Last year, Rubio went to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz rocket, along with two other cosmonauts. The mission was to spend a total of six months in space, which is actually the usual length of a mission.

The normal procedure involves the rocket remaining hooked up to the ISS, acting as an emergency escape vessel in case it is required. Its purpose for to bring the three travelers back in the month of December. However, it got a leak, maybe because of the impact from a small meteorite.

Thus, the Roscosmos brought the rocket back and sent another one sans any crew.

Rubio, along with his two colleagues carried out the crew mission.

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Rubio is a Latino. He has seen many crews in the space, almost a total of 28 people of different nationalities.

"If I do the math right, that's almost five percent of the humans that have ever been to space, which is pretty incredible," said Rubio on Wednesday.

He also talked about doing experiments and living in low Earth orbit.

"Once you're up here for a little bit, you really get focused on the work and sometimes you forget to appreciate the fact that you are floating around and that you have this amazing view down below you," expressed Rubio.

He stated that the quarters are cramped. On this, he said, "And so, psychologically for a year, that was a little bit of a challenge."

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