America’s first astronaut to spend greater than a full 12 months in orbit is safely house, following the landing of Soyuz MS-23 in south-central Kazakhstan early Wednesday with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA veteran Frank Rubio. The trio landed about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of the Kazakh metropolis of Dzhezkazgan at 5:17 p.m. native time (7:17 a.m. EDT), wrapping up the third-longest human-carrying house voyage in historical past after 370 days, 21 hours and 23 minutes in flight, 157 million miles (252 million kilometers) traveled and 5,936 orbits of Earth.
“Frank’s record-breaking time in house is not only a milestone, it’s a serious contribution to our understanding of long-duration house missions,” stated NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson. “Our astronauts make extraordinary sacrifices away from their properties and liked to additional discovery.
“NASA is immensely grateful for Frank’s devoted service to our nation and the invaluable scientific contributions he made he made on the Worldwide House Station,” the administrator continued. “He embodies the true pioneer spirit that may pave the way in which for future exploration of the Moon, Mars and past.”
After rain showers impacted the touchdown website earlier as we speak, the Soyuz MS-23 descent module—descending beneath its orange-and-white parachute—drifted by damaged clouds, overcast skies and light-weight winds to alight on the desolate Kazakh steppe, the place temperatures hovered round 20 levels Celsius (69 levels Fahrenheit). Seconds previous to landing, Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio had been instructed to brace and the six solid-fueled touchdown rockets within the descent module’s base ignited to cushion the second of impression at about 3.3 mph (5.3 km/h).
Soyuz MS-23 undocked from the Prichal module of the Worldwide House Station (ISS) at 3:54 a.m. EDT Wednesday, to start the multi-hour return to Earth. And following a picture-perfect deorbit “burn”, the spacecraft’s spherical orbital module and cylindrical instrument module had been robotically discarded at 6:52 a.m. EDT, leaving the bell-shaped descent module alone to resist the furnace of atmospheric re-entry.
“Entry Interface”—the purpose at which Soyuz MS-23 started to really feel the tenuous results of Earth’s smart environment—got here a few minutes later. The spacecraft handed by peak aerodynamic heating and safely exited the “plasma regime” shortly after 7 a.m. EDT.
By this time, search and rescue forces had reached the touchdown website and adopted a “racetrack” sample, circling the expected landing location. Descending beneath its enormous parachute, Soyuz MS-23 hit terra firma proper on time and apparently rolled onto its aspect, a ultimate second of drama for the primary people within the twenty first century to spend multiple steady photo voltaic orbit off the planet. There to greet them had been a gaggle of restoration personnel and lots of recognizable faces, together with ISS Program Supervisor Joel Montalbano and Chief Astronaut Joe Acaba.
With as we speak’s touchdown, Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio convey to seven the full variety of people who’ve logged over a 12 months in house on a single mission. Previous ultra-long-duration spacegoers included Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov, who spent nearly three hundred and sixty six days aboard the Soviet-era Mir house station between December 1987 and December 1988, Sergei Avdeyev who recorded 379 days between August 1998 and August 1999 and the all-time record-holder, Valeri Polyakov, who flew a 437-day, 6,900-orbit mission between January 1994 and March 1995.
And with Prokopyev having additionally flown a six-month ISS increment between June and December 2018, his profession whole now stands at greater than 567 days, placing him in twelfth place on the world listing of most skilled spacefarers. Petelin and Rubio, in the meantime, carve for themselves a joint file for the longest “rookie” mission of any astronaut or cosmonaut: Manarov was the earlier record-holder on this respect, having logged three hundred and sixty six days on the primary flight of his profession in December 1988; Titov, Avdeyev and Avdeyev had already flown earlier than their ultra-long-duration missions.
Two weeks in the past, Rubio eclipsed the 355-day file of fellow NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei for the longest single spaceflight ever undertaken by a U.S. citizen. And in a touching tribute on Day 355, Vande Hei and Rubio had the chance to talk for a couple of minutes about information set, enjoyable had and sacrifices made.
“On behalf of the nation, thanks for extending our file past 355 days,” Vande Hei informed Rubio. “Daily for us is a file till you come house.”
Conscious {that a} 12 months had handed since Rubio final did any actual Soyuz touchdown coaching, old-hand Vande Hei supplied a helpful tip. “I succeeded in preserving my mouth shut after we hit the bottom,” he joked, “so I didn’t chew my tongue off.”
Responding, Rubio famous that the most effective experiences was spending his 12 months in house with 28 different folks from seven sovereign nations: U.S. astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob “Farmer” Hines, Jessica Watkins, Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Steve Bowen, Warren “Woody” Hoburg, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O’Hara and Ax-2’s Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Sergei Korsakov, Denis Matveev, Anna Kikina, Andrei Fedyayev, Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, along with Sultan Al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Japan’s Koichi Wakata and Satoshi Furukawa, Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti and Saudi Arabia’s Ali Al-Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi.
Added to that listing, after all, had been his one-year crewmates, Prokopyev and Petelin, plus Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, who assumed command of the ISS yesterday and formally kicked off Expedition 70. In his change-of-command remarks, Mogensen praised the “resilience, professionalism and beauty” of the three males “within the face of surprising challenges and vital uncertainty”.
Mogensen continued: “It’s one factor to launch to house, figuring out that you simply’re going to be up right here for a 12 months”—a nod, maybe, to Russia’s Kononenko and Chub, launched two weeks in the past, who’re anticipated to stay aboard the ISS till September 2024—“but it surely’s a totally completely different factor for you and your households to seek out out, in direction of the top of your six-month mission, that you simply’re going to be spending an extra six months in house. However you took it upon your shoulders and also you excelled.”
Excelled, certainly, for Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio rose to house aboard Soyuz MS-22 from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:54 p.m. native time (9:54 a.m. EDT) on 21 September 2022, docking on the ISS three hours and two orbits later, to be welcomed by the seven-strong Expedition 67 crew. Per week later, three Russian crewmen returned to Earth, adopted by the arrival of SpaceX’s four-strong Crew-5 in early October and the departure of the four-person Crew-4 at mid-month, kicking off Expedition 68 below Prokopyev’s command.
At this stage, it was meant for Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio to spend 182 days in orbit, returning to Earth late in March 2023. These plans modified abruptly final December, when floor groups noticed “vital” leakage from Soyuz MS-22’s aft part, later traced to a gap, discoloration and a coolant leak in an exterior radiator, doubtless attributable to a Micrometeoroid Orbital Particles (MMOD) impactor.
As 2023 started, it turned readily obvious that though Soyuz MS-22 might be used within the dire eventuality of an emergency return, it was not secure for a “nominal” re-entry. And in mid-January NASA and Roscosmos decided {that a} “substitute” ship, Soyuz MS-23, would fly uncrewed to the station.
Soyuz MS-23 arrived safely on 23 February and Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio transferred their seat liners over to the brand new ship, earlier than the outdated Soyuz MS-22 was remotely undocked and returned autonomously to Earth in late March. It parachuted to a secure touchdown in Kazakhstan, though temperatures contained in the spacecraft reportedly peaked at near 50 levels Celsius (122 levels Fahrenheit), quite extra favorable than the worst-case situations envisaged by flight planners.
With a double-duty increment forward of them, Expedition 68 transitioned into Expedition 69 and it turned apparent that Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio would cross a full 12 months in house, the primary people of the ISS period and the primary folks within the twenty first century to take action. In mid-September, their replacements—Soyuz MS-24’s Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Loral O’Hara—launched from Baikonur and arrived safely on the station. Present plans are for O’Hara to return to Earth subsequent March, with Kononenko and Chub anticipated to stay in house for a full 12 months till September 2024.
