Just after they broke a 56-year-old spaceflight record, the Artemis 2 astronauts shared a powerful moment that deepened their already profound bond.

On Monday (April 6), Artemis 2 made it farther from Earth than any crewed mission ever had before, topping the mark set by NASA's Apollo 13 moon mission in April 1970 (248,655 miles, or 400,171 kilometers).

The astronauts marked the occasion by celebrating a lost loved one — Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who died of cancer in 2020. Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen radioed down to Mission Control, asking permission to name a moon crater after Carroll.

"There is a feature in a really neat place on the moon, and it is on the near side-far side boundary," Hansen said.

"In fact, it’s just on the near side of that boundary, and so at certain times of the moon's transit around Earth, we will be able to see this from Earth," he added. "It's a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call it Carroll."

That beautiful moment had been in the works for more than a week, Wiseman revealed on Wednesday night (April 8) during a call that he and the other Artemis 2 astronauts — Hansen, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — held with reporters.

"My crewmates approached me when we were at Kennedy in quarantine," Wiseman said, referring to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the site from which Artemis 2 launched on April 1. (The astronauts arrived at KSC to prep for that liftoff on March 27.)

"They said the three of them had talked, and they would like to do this," he added. "That was an emotional moment for me. And I just thought that was just a total treasure, that they had thought through this, and they had offered this."

Wiseman gave them his approval. But he had one request.

"I can't give the speech," he said. "I can't give the talk. And Jeremy, the kind of guy he is, he said he would do it. And it was getting emotional there."

Wiseman said he really lost it when Hansen spelled out Carroll's name for Mission Control on Monday, to make sure the crater would be properly identified.

"I think for me, that's when I was overwhelmed with emotion," Wiseman said. "And I looked over and Christina was crying. I put my hand down on Jeremy's hand as he was still talking — it was right there on that rail — and I could just tell he was trembling, and we all pretty much broke down right there."

That was "the pinnacle moment of the mission" for him personally, Wiseman said.

"That was, I think, where the four of us were the most forged, the most bonded, and we came out of that really focused on that day ahead," he added.

And that was a very busy and remarkable day: The astronauts flew around the far side of the moon on Monday, seeing some areas that had never been viewed by human eyes before. They were also treated to a celestial marvel, witnessing a total solar eclipse from beyond the moon.

The flyby also charted the astronauts' journey home, as lunar gravity slingshotted their Orion capsule back toward Earth. The quartet will arrive here Friday evening (April 10), with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

The Artemis 2 astronauts were already close before Carroll Crater was a thing — far before launch, in fact. They were selected for the mission in April 2023, so they've been training together intensely for the past three years.

But their experiences off Earth have deepened and tightened those bonds, which extend beyond their Orion capsule to the entire mission team.

Koch, for example, was asked on Wednesday night what she will miss most about being in space after she comes home. This was her response:

"I will miss this camaraderie. I will miss being this close with this many people and having a common purpose, a common mission — getting to work on it hard every day, across hundreds of thousands of miles with a team on the ground. This sense of teamwork is something that you don't usually get as an adult. I mean, we are close, like brothers and sisters, and that is a privilege we will never have again."

The Artemis 2 crew also proposed naming a moon crater after their Orion capsule, which they christened "Integrity." Mission Control greenlit both suggestions, but that's not the end of the story. Before Carroll Crater and Integrity Crater can get added to official lunar maps, they must be approved by the International Astronomical Union.

The Artemis 2 astronauts' photography skills were up to the epic task.

The spaceflyers — NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — flew around the far side of the moon on Monday (April 6), something no humans had done since NASA's Apollo 17 mission back in 1972.

The Artemis 2 quartet chronicled their historic journey in detail, capturing some photos that could help scientists better understand lunar geology and evolution, and others that seemed designed just to blow our minds. Here are a few of the most amazing ones.

Let's start with the above photo, which provides a new and mind-bending perspective on our home planet. Have you ever seen it like this, tiny and crescent-shaped, perched above a seemingly huge and dominant moon?

The Artemis 2 crew snapped that spectacular shot a little more than halfway into the flyby on Monday. It captures the moments before Earthset, when our home planet disappeared behind the lunar limb from the astronauts' perspective. (The photo at the top of this story is also an Earthset shot.)

This flyby photo highlights the Orientale Basin, a 600-mile-wide (965-kilometer-wide) feature known as the "Grand Canyon of the moon."

Human eyes had never seen Orientale in sunlight before, so the Artemis science team asked the astronauts to observe it very thoroughly. And they did, as Wiseman's description of one of the basin's features indicates.

"The annular ring, which I think everybody kind of describes as like a pair of lips or a kiss on the far side of the moon, from here is very circular in nature," Wiseman, the Artemis 2 commander, radioed to Mission Control.

"The northern part of it is wider, darker; the southern part is much lighter," he added. "It is very neat-looking — far more circular than I remember it looking in our training."

The crewmembers also got great looks at the moon's terminator — not a murderous cyborg roaming the gray landscape but rather the boundary line between day and night on the lunar surface. And it made quite an impression on them, especially Glover.

"Boy, I'm loving the terminator," he told Mission Control. "I've probably spent the most time describing into my recordings and thinking about and looking at the terminator.

"There's just so much magic in the terminator," he added. "The islands of light, the valleys that look like black holes — you'd fall straight to the center of the moon if you stepped in some of those. It's just so visually captivating. The terminator is the most striking thing that I've seen so far."

The astronauts also got looks at parts of the South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the most dramatic features on the moon. It's the largest confirmed impact crater in the solar system, stretching more than 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from rim to rim.

And the south polar area is of great interest to scientists and Artemis mission planners. The region is thought to harbor large amounts of water ice, on the permanently shadowed floors of many of its craters. NASA plans to build one or more bases in the area in the 2030s, tapping into that water ice to support crews and to fuel rockets. (Water ice can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, key components of rocket fuel.)

Toward the end of Monday's flyby, the Artemis 2 astronauts were treated to a rare celestial spectacle: A total solar eclipse, seen from beyond the moon.

The eclipse wasn't visible to anyone on Earth; it was a consequence of Artemis 2's trajectory, which happened to line the moon and sun up in the proper way.

And it was very different than solar eclipses seen from our planet. Because the moon loomed so large to the Artemis 2 crew, it blocked out the sun for much longer — about 54 minutes, compared to 7.5 minutes, which is the approximate maximum period of totality for eclipses seen from terra firma.

The crew captured gorgeous photos of the eclipse, including one (shown above) in which Venus is visible. But they went about their business safely, donning eclipse glasses at the proper times, just as we must do here on Earth to protect our eyes.

The Artemis 2 astronauts are now on their way home, helped out by the historic flyby, which served to slingshot them back toward Earthj. They'll arrive here on Friday (April 10), ending their 10-day mission with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

But they'll doubtless carry the lunar flyby, and the entire mission, with them for the rest of their lives.

"It was an incredible experience," Koch said shortly after the flyby. "I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon."

Artemis 2's historic, action-packed lunar flyby is in the books.

Artemis 2 looped around the moon's far side today (April 6), in a nearly seven-hour encounter that gave its four astronauts views of Earth's nearest neighbor that human eyes had never seen before.

The Artemis 2 crewmembers also observed a total solar eclipse from beyond the moon and set a big spaceflight record, traveling farther from their home planet than anyone ever had before.

A new distance record for humanity

Artemis 2 is the first mission to send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) since Apollo 17 did so way back in 1972. The current flight launched on April 1, sending NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen aloft on board an Orion capsule that the astronauts named "Integrity."

Integrity arrived in lunar space early this morning. The capsule journeyed into the moon's "sphere of influence," the region where lunar gravity is stronger than that of Earth, at 12:37 a.m. EDT (0437 GMT).

About 13.5 hours later, the four Artemis 2 astronauts crossed another threshold, getting more than 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) from Earth. That was our species' old distance record, set in April 1970 by the three astronauts of NASA's Apollo 13 mission.

And Integrity continued cruising outward for about five more hours, reaching a maximum distance from Earth of about 252,756 miles (406,771 km) just after 7:00 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) — a mark the Artemis 2 crew hopes gets broken soon.

"We, most importantly, choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived," Hansen said shortly after Artemis 2 surpassed Apollo 13.

There were some touching moments as well. As the flyby began, the crew asked to name an unnamed moon crater they observed after their ship Integrity.

Another crater, they proposed, should be named Carroll in honor of Carroll Taylor Wiseman, wife of Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman, who tragically died in 2020 from cancer.

"Integrity and Carroll Crater, loud and clear," Mission Control replied.

Eyes on the moon — for science

But all of this action was just a warmup for the mission's main event — the flyby.

The encounter officially began at 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT), when Integrity was about 10,700 miles (17,220 km) from the lunar surface. And it was not a sightseeing cruise for the Artemis 2 astronauts; they studied the moon's surface for hours, following a detailed checklist drawn up by the mission science team.

After all, the flyby was a rare research opportunity. People hadn't viewed the moon up close in more than 50 years, and Artemis 2's unique "free return" trajectory — in which it looped around the moon without entering lunar orbit — afforded unprecedented views of the gray, cratered surface.

What's more, the human eye is very good at picking up subtle variations in color and texture — better than robotic spacecraft cameras, in fact. So, the Artemis 2 crew could conceivably detect details that help scientists better understand lunar geology and evolution, and help planners map out future crewed missions to the moon's surface.

One of the astronauts' key observation targets was the Orientale Basin, a 600-mile-wide (965 km) impact crater known as the "Grand Canyon of the moon." It straddles the line between the moon's near and far sides and, until Artemis 2, had never been seen in sunlight by human eyes, according to NASA.

The astronauts were therefore assiduous in their descriptions of the crater. Take, for example, Wiseman's words on one of Orientale's prominent features.

"The annular ring, which I think everybody kind of describes as like a pair of lips or a kiss on the far side of the moon, from here is very circular in nature," Wiseman, the Artemis 2 commander, told Mission Control.

"The northern part of it is wider, darker; the southern part is much lighter," he added. "It is very neat-looking — far more circular than I remember it looking in our training."

Artemis 2 complemented such naked-eye observations with photographic evidence, captured by an array of 32 cameras. Fifteen of those are mounted to Integrity; the other 17 are handheld instruments operated by the astronauts.

Those astronauts aren't robots, of course, so they have emotional reactions to what they see out of Integrity's windows. And Koch shared a bit of what she was feeling during the flyby with Mission Control.

"It was an incredible experience. At one point towards the end of the images of my time in Window 3, I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon," Koch said.

"It lasted just a second or two, and I actually couldn't even make it happen again, but something just drew me in suddenly to the lunar landscape, and it became real," she added. "And the truth is, the moon really is its own body in the universe."

At 6:44 p.m. EDT (2244 GMT), Integrity lost contact with Mission Control as it disappeared behind the moon from Earth's perspective. This blackout, or loss of signal (LOS), was completely expected, so it wasn't exactly nerve-wracking.

"We've handed over between Deep Space Network sites the whole mission," Artemis 2 Flight Director Rick Henfling said before the blackout. "This is just like an extended handover. We know where the spacecraft is, we know where it'll be when we come out of LOS, and so we're not worried."

Integrity reestablished contact right on schedule, at 7:24 p.m. EDT (2324 GMT). But some important stuff happened during the 40-minute blackout.

For example, the high point of the flyby — or the low point, in orbital-dynamics terms — came at about 7:00 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) when Integrity made its closest approach, skimming a mere 4,067 miles (6,545 km) above the lunar surface. From this distance, the moon looked about as big as a basketball held at arm's length, NASA officials said during the Artemis 2 livestream.

Two minutes later, Artemis reached its farthest point from Earth, which is now the distance record for future astronauts to chase.

A solar eclipse, too

About six hours into the flyby, the Artemis 2 crew turned their attention to a different celestial spectacle — a total solar eclipse, which began at 8:35 p.m. EDT (0035 GMT on April 7).

It was a very different sight from the eclipses we're used to here on Earth. Because the moon loomed so large through Integrity's windows, the sun was hidden behind it for much longer — about 53 minutes, compared to a maximum of about 7.5 minutes for any total solar eclipse seen from our planet. (To be clear: This eclipse was visible only to the Artemis 2 astronauts. The moon and sun were not lined up for viewers on Earth.)

Eclipses allow scientists to study the sun's wispy outer atmosphere, known as the corona, which is usually swamped by our star's immense brightness. So, the mission team gave the Artemis 2 crew some instructions.

"We've included prompts for them to describe the features that they can see in the solar corona, which can ultimately help solar scientists understand these processes in general, especially given the unique vantage point that the crew are going to have relative to our orbiting spacecraft here on Earth and our observers, our scientists, here on Earth as well," Kelsey Young, NASA's Artemis science flight operations lead, said during a press conference on Saturday (April 4).

The sun was still dangerous for the Artemis 2 crew to look at; Integrity's windows did not provide the required eye protection. They therefore donned eclipse glasses to watch the event, just as we do here on Earth.

"This is continues to be unreal," Glover said during the eclipse. "The sun has gone behind the moon, and the corona is still visible, and it's bright and it creates a halo almost around the entire moon."

"The Earth is so bright out there, and the moon is just hanging in front of us, this black orb out in front of us," he added. "Wow! It's amazing."

Wiseman concurred.

"That was an absolutely spectacular and magnificent experience," Wiseman said.

The astronauts also reported seeing at least five impact flashes on the moon's darkened surfance, evidence of meteorid impacts on the lunar surface. They also had chances to see Mercury, Mars, Venus and Saturn from beyond the moon, NASA said.

Coming home

The flyby ended tonight at around 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT on April 7). With that milestone, Artemis 2 entered a new phase: the journey back to Earth.

"I can't say enough how much science we've already learned, and how much inspiration you've provided to our entire team, the lunar science community and the entire world with what you were able to bring today," Young radioed to the Artemis 2 crew after the flyby. "You really brought the moon closer for us today, and we cannot say thank you enough."

Wiseman thanked the science team for all their training that made the crew's observations possible.

"You all knocked it out of the park," Wiseman. "Thank you for giving us this opportunity."

The flyby slingshot Integrity and its occupants back toward Earth, without the need for any major engine burns. The capsule will arrive on Friday evening (April 10), coming home with a parachute-aided splashdown off the coast of San Diego.

That will mark the end of the Artemis 2 mission but the start of a new chapter — the buildup to Artemis 3. That crewed mission, targeted to launch in 2027, will test rendezvous and docking in Earth orbit. If all goes well, NASA will put boots down near the moon's south pole on Artemis 4 in late 2028. And the agency will start building a base there over the next few years.

Editor's note: Space.com Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik and Spaceflight Writer Josh Dinner contributed to this report from NASA's Johnson Space Center, home of Artemis 2 Mission Control, in Houston.

HOUSTON, Tex. — Today (April 6), as NASA's Artemis 2 astronauts had their names etched into history books for becoming the farthest-ever humans from Earth, they took a moment to recognize the milestone by remembering someone no longer with us.

The previous distance record was held by Apollo 13, which traveled 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) from Earth at the farthest point of its mission. The Artemis 2 astronauts just surpassed that, marking the occasion with a teary-eyed dedication.

"A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family and we lost a loved one," Artemis 2 mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said to mission control. "Her name was Carroll: the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie."

Hansen was referring to Artemis 2 mission commander Reid Wiseman's wife, who tragically died of cancer in 2020. The crewmembers together requested naming a crater they identified on the moon after her.

Northwest of the moon's Glushko crater, on the same latitude as the Ohm crater, sits the proposed "Carroll" crater. Hansen called the crater a "bright spot" along the moon's near side that can be seen from Earth. As his crewmate spoke, Wiseman reached over to put a hand on Hansen's shoulder, as each member of the Artemis 2 crew moved into a collective embrace.

The mission's crewmembers chose to name a different crater after their Orion spacecraft, named Integrity.

As the astronauts wiped tears from their eyes, NASA's mission control responded to their transmission: "Integrity and Carroll Crater, loud and clear."

Orion's closest approach to the moon will take place later Monday, bringing the crew within about 4,000 miles (6,440 kilometers) of the lunar surface. That flyby begins at 7:02 p.m. EDT (2302 GMT), and will last a little more than three hours.

During that time, Orion will also reach its farthest distance from Earth, flying at a staggering 252,760 miles (406,778 kilometers) away from our home planet.

The crew's lunar observations are expected to wrap up at 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT, April 7), at which point, they'll officially be on their way back to Earth.

NASA's Artemis 2 moon mission just etched its name in the record books.

The four Artemis 2 astronauts have now traveled farther from Earth than any people in history, breaking the mark set by the Apollo 13 crew on April 15, 1970.

The old record — 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) — fell today (April 6) at 1:57 p.m. EDT (1757 GMT) as Artemis 2's Orion capsule began looping around the far side of the moon. Artemis 2 will get a maximum of about 252,760 miles (406,778 km) from its home planet, hitting that number tonight at 7:07 p.m. EDT (2307 GMT), NASA officials have said.

Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell knew this moment was coming. So, before his death in August of last year, he recorded a congratulatory message to share with the Artemis 2 crew — NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen.

"Hello, Artemis 2, this is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood," Lovell said in the message, which Mission Control beamed up to Artemis 2 today.

"When Frank Borman and Bill Anders and I orbited the moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity's first up-close look at the moon, and got a view of the whole planet that inspired and united people around the world," he added.

"I'm proud to pass that torch on to you as you swing around the moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars for the benefit of all. It's a historic day, and I know how busy you'll be, but don't forget to enjoy the view. So, Reid, Victor and Christina and Jeremy, and all the great teams supporting you, good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth."

That last line was a callback to Apollo 8's famous Christmas Eve message to the world, during which the three astronauts took turns reading the first 10 verses of the book of Genesis. Borman closed by saying, "God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

"That was an awesome message from Jim Lovell," Wiseman, the Artemis 2 commander, radioed to Mission Control today. "Very cool to hear him welcome us to the neighborhood. It's gonna be a great day."

Hansen took Orion's microphone just after Artemis 2 broke the record, sharing some poignant words with all of us.

"As we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration," Hansen said.

"We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear, but we, most importantly, choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived," he added.

Apollo 13 went farther than it was supposed to go. The mission was designed to orbit and then land on the moon, but one of its oxygen tanks exploded en route, nixing that plan. Mission Control and the three Apollo 13 astronauts — Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert — revamped the flight in real time, turning it into a lunar flyby that, seemingly against all odds, managed to return safely to Earth.

Artemis 2, by contrast, is right on track. It's a shakeout cruise designed to show that Orion can support astronauts in deep space, and today's flyby serves to slingshot the capsule back toward Earth. Orion will come home Friday (April 10) in a splashdown off the coast of San Diego.

If all goes to plan, the first Artemis moon landing will come in late 2028, on the Artemis 4 mission (after Artemis 3 tests docking technology and techniques in low Earth orbit, or LEO). Other touchdowns will follow, helping to build a base near the moon's south pole in the early 2030s.

Today's distance milestone was another first in a mission full of them. Artemis 2, which launched on April 1, is the first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis program and the first human spaceflight to go beyond LEO since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Artemis 2 pilot Victor Glover is the first person of color ever to travel beyond LEO, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are the first woman and first non-American, respectively, to do so.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:08 p.m. ET on April 6 to include Hansen's quote.

The spaceflight record books have just been rewritten.

Over the weekend, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko set a new mark for most total days spent off Earth, eclipsing the 878 days, 11 hours and 30 minutes of his countryman Gennady Padalka, according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency.

Kononenko launched to the International Space Station (ISS) last September for a stay that could last a full year, so he will continue to add to his newly set record for a while yet.

"It is expected that Oleg Kononenko will reach a total of 1,000 days in space on June 5, 2024 at 00:00:20 Moscow time. And upon completion of the annual expedition (September 23, 2024), [his] total flight time will be 1,110 days," Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos wrote in a post on Telegram. (The original post is in Russian; translation by Google.)

Related: The most extreme spaceflight records

Soviet and Russian cosmonauts dominate the spaceflight-duration record book. They hold the top eight slots on the most-total-time-in-space list, for example. Peggy Whitson, whose 675 days off Earth are the most by a NASA astronaut, is number nine overall.

And cosmonaut Valery Polyakov holds the single-flight duration record, spending nearly 438 consecutive days aboard Russia's Mir space station from January 1994 to March 1995. 

The top American on that list is Frank Rubio, who recently spent 371 days aboard the ISS after his original ride home, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, sprang a leak in orbit and had to be replaced.

The current mission is Kononenko's fifth spaceflight. He's currently serving as a flight engineer on the orbiting lab's Expedition 70, but he's scheduled to take the station's reins later this month, when current commander Andreas Mogenson comes back to Earth with the rest of SpaceX's Crew-7 mission.

The Crew-7 quartet will be replaced by the four astronauts of Crew-8, which is scheduled to lift off on Feb. 22 from Florida's Space Coast.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio celebrated a spaceflight milestone with two former astronauts on Earth.

NASA's Frank Rubio spoke with senior NASA management from the International Space Station on Thursday (Sept. 13), two days after breaking the previous record of 355 days on a single spaceflight. Rubio is now expected to spend 371 days in orbit, making him the first American to spend more than a year in space on a single mission. More incredibly, it wasn't planned that way; problems with his spacecraft forced an expected six-month orbital stay to double to a year.

"It was unexpected. In some ways, it's been an incredible challenge," Rubio said of the milestone during the livestreamed call on NASA Television, with NASA administrator Bill Nelson and deputy administrator Pam Melroy. "But in other ways, it's been an incredible blessing. I count myself lucky and honored to be able to represent the agency and our country."

Rubio, a Salvadorian-American born in Los Angeles, added that with his record-breaking stay falling during National Hispanic Heritage Month (which concludes Oct. 15), he finds it "timely" as it "symbolizes the diversity of the wonderful rich fabric of America."

Related: NASA astronaut Frank Rubio surprised by his accidental record in space (video)

Rubio and his Russian MS-22 Soyuz spacecraft crewmates Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, cosmonauts from Roscosmos, were scheduled to spend a typical six months in space after launching Sept. 21, 2022. Both Rubio and Petelin were on their first flight.

Halfway through their stay, however, MS-22, also serving as their ride home, dramatically lost all its coolant in a December 2022 leak. After considering options, Roscosmos rapidly shipped up an empty replacement Soyuz, called MS-23, which arrived on Feb. 25. 

The agencies also formulated an emergency escape plan from the ISS before MS-23 arrived, assigning Rubio on a temporary seat (involving tie-down straps on the floor of an already docked SpaceX Crew Dragon). His Russian crewmates were authorized to use MS-22 if absolutely needed, as two humans would not heat up the uncooled spacecraft as rapidly as three. But that plan luckily did not need to be implemented after MS-23 safely docked.

Read more: Russia's replacement Soyuz spacecraft arrives at space station

Rubio and his crewmates, however, were needed to stay on board until a relief crew could arrive. That required getting yet another spacecraft (MS-24) ready for spaceflight to send the astronauts. Since NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub were supposed to use MS-23, that crew's departure date on MS-24 was delayed to no earlier than Sept. 15 for their MS-24 reassignment. 

Assuming this all goes to plan, Rubio and his crewmates will finally depart space on Sept. 27.

"As much as it was a challenge to say an extra six months, I'm so grateful that the agency was able to say, 'Hey, you know what the safe thing to do would be: To fire up a new spacecraft, and have (my crew) wait and ensure a more safe return," Rubio said in the call, adding, "I am looking forward to a return on a more safe and more secure spacecraft."

Nelson and Melroy, both flown astronauts from the space shuttle program, paid tribute to the challenges Rubio had faced in orbit. (Melroy flew three times as a NASA astronaut. Nelson, then a member of the House of Representatives on a space committee, flew on mission STS-61C in 1986 under a program NASA then had for non-professionals to reach space.)

"You made all kinds of records up there, and you've had six months that you didn't expect," said Nelson, speaking from NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Melroy, standing beside Nelson in the view of the video, said Rubio's wife and kids "have been on my mind so much." The former astronaut added she wanted to check in to make sure Rubio was getting the support he needed. 

Rubio said that the NASA community had rallied around him, sending people over to the house as needed to help the family. Luckily, upgrades to NASA's internet on station came in during his mission as well, allowing for high-quality video conferences with family at least twice a week, he said.

Rubio joked that his only regret was not eating one of the space-grown Red Robin tomatoes his crew tended, and managed to save from an unexpected humidity drop on ISS at a crucial growth point. Rubio's inch-long tomato unfortunately floated away to a hidden spot before he could take a bite. "I spent so many hours looking for that thing," he quipped. "I'm sure the desiccated tomato will show up at some point and vindicate me, years in the future."

Only seven astronauts have spent more than a year in space. Aside from the trio on MS-22/23, the other four were cosmonauts on missions visiting the then-Soviet Mir space station. Topping the list is Valery Polyakov (437 days), while the others are Sergey Avdeev, Musa Manarov and Vladimir Titov.

Rubio's mark surpasses the 355-day record last set by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Vande Hei was also expected to spend six months in space, but learned preflight he may extend to a year due to space station staffing needs (which is what ended up happening.)

Vande Hei, speaking with Rubio earlier this month from NASA's Johnson Space Station in Houston, said the most memorable part of his own stay was "the people that I got to spend that much time [with] … intensively, both working and playing as much as we possibly can." 

NASA's superstar astronaut and International Space Station commander Peggy Whitson received a special long-distance call from the White House today (April 24) to congratulate her on breaking yet another record in space.

At 1:27 a.m. EDT (0527 GMT) today, Whitson surpassed the record for the most cumulative time in space by a U.S. astronaut, having spent 534 days aboard the space station (and counting). President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins gathered in the Oval Office this morning for a video conference with Whitson and her crewmate, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer.

During the 20-minute video conference, the group talked about life in space, research at the space station, the journey to Mars, and women and girls in STEM. [In Photos: Record-Breaking NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson] 

"Today is a very special day in the glorious history of American spaceflight," Trump said, calling Whitson's new flight record "such an incredible record to break, and on behalf of our nation and frankly on behalf of the world, I'd like to congratulate you. That is really something."

Whitson replied by downplaying her achievement, saying, "It's an honor for me basically to be representing all the folks at NASA who make spaceflight possible and who make me setting this record feasible."

Whitson is especially excited about human missions to Mars, which she believes could happen sometime in the 2030s, as is outlined in Trump's NASA authorization bill. Trump signed the bill last month. 

Ivanka Trump took the opportunity to talk about the INSPIRE Women Act, which seeks to get more female students interested in science and math. "Encouraging women and girls to pursue STEM careers is a major priority for this administration, and today we are sitting with an amazing example of that, Dr. Rubins and Dr. Whitson."

Last summer, Rubins made history when she became the first astronaut to sequence DNA in space. Whitson has made spaceflight history several times over the course of her career, being the first woman to command the space station (and the first to command it twice) and the oldest woman to fly to space. She also holds the record for the most cumulative spacewalking time for a female astronaut.

"Peggy is a phenomenal role model for young women, and all Americans, who are exploring or participating in STEM education programs and careers,"  Trump said in a statement. "As I have said many times before, only by enlisting the full potential of women in our society will we be truly able to make America great again. When I signed the INSPIRE Women Act in February, I did so to ensure more women have access to STEM education and careers, and to ensure America continues to benefit from the contributions of trailblazers like Peggy."

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.