Longest U.S. spaceflight record set

U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio landed on Earth with two Russian cosmonauts on Thursday after being in space for 371 days. The mission at the International Space Station was supposed to last 180 days but was extended after the original return capsule had a coolant leak. The trio was forced to wait for a replacement vehicle to arrive.

Does anyone hold a longer spaceflight record? A Russian cosmonaut set the world record for the longest spaceflight in the mid-1990s at 437 days. The previous American record was 355 days, set in 2022. Rubio conducted various activities in space, including plant research and physical sciences studies. While in space, he orbited the Earth almost 6,000 times and journeyed over 150 million miles.

Dig deeper: Read Chelsea Boes’ review of A Million Miles Away, a movie about a migrant worker who became an astronaut.