Astronaut Dr. Frank Rubio is finally landing after accidentally spending 371 consecutive days in outer space when his ride home was damaged, which prevented from returning on the original landing day. And he has also set the record for the longest time spent continuously in space as an American Astronaut. The previous record was 355 consecutive days spent in space by Vande Hei between 2021 and 2022.

Rubio was recruited for the NASA Astronaut program in 2017 when he began his training. After he completed his training, he was selected to go a mission to the international space station. He was accompanied on his mission with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, and they returned in rural Kazakhstan on Sept. 27. They were promptly pulled out of their pods and carried away, because they were unable to walk due to their extra time in microgravity.

Now that he has returned, he will have to readjust to civilian life. And it’s known that prolonged time in space can cause muscle degeneration, bone loss, reduced eyesight and impaired balance, and can even change the shape of the brain; all which he will have to look out for.

During his time up there, he performed various experiments-namely, to test how bacteria behaves in microgravity. But he revealed that he personally enjoyed watching a tomato plant develop and grow.

A NASA administrator stated that Frank Rubio’s mission contributing significantly to their understanding of long-duration space missions. And he also praised Rubio saying he embodied the true pioneer spirit and will pave the way for future missions to the moon and Mars.