Besides the damaged Soyuz spacecraft, the International Space Station (ISS) had another spacecraft docked—the SpaceX Crew Dragon. In case the ISS crew needed to evacuate, NASA and Roscosmos came up with an emergency plan. They decided to strap down a temporary seat inside the Crew Dragon using tie-downs. Frank Rubio would use this makeshift seat while Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin would return in the damaged Soyuz. However, this plan posed risks as temperatures during re-entry could reach as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fortunately, the situation didn’t come to the point where anyone had to evacuate. Nonetheless, this unplanned event extended Rubio’s stay on the ISS. Later, on February 25, 2023, the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft arrived at the ISS, but it did not bring a relief crew. The new crew was scheduled to come with the Soyuz MS-24, which was not yet ready.

Now, the day of the Soyuz MS-24 launch is almost here. On Friday, September 15, 2023, the Soyuz MS-24 will carry a new crew consisting of NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. If everything goes according to plan, Rubio will return on September 27, completing a 371-day mission in space. This will not only be the longest continuous mission by a U.S. astronaut but also the first time an American has spent over a year in space.