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 primary American to spend greater than a 12 months in space on a single mission. More incredibly, it wasn’t planned that way; problems along with his spacecraft forced an expected six-month orbital stay to double to a 12 months.
“It was unexpected. In some ways, it has been an incredible challenge,” Rubio said of the milestone through the livestreamed call on NASA Television, with NASA administrator Bill Nelson and deputy administrator Pam Melroy. “But in other ways, it has been an incredible blessing. I count myself lucky and honored to find a way to represent the agency and our country.”
Rubio, a Salvadorian-American born in Los Angeles, added that along with his record-breaking stay falling during National Hispanic Heritage Month (which concludes Oct. 15), he finds it “timely” because it “symbolizes the range of the wonderful wealthy fabric of America.”
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. Each Rubio and Petelin were on their first flight.
Halfway through their stay, nonetheless, 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 alternative 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 short lived seat (involving tie-down straps on the ground of an already docked SpaceX Crew Dragon). His Russian crewmates were authorized to make use of MS-22 if absolutely needed, as two humans wouldn’t heat up the uncooled spacecraft as rapidly as three. But that plan luckily didn’t should be implemented after MS-23 safely docked.
Read more: Russia’s alternative Soyuz spacecraft arrives at space station
Rubio and his crewmates, nonetheless, were needed to remain on board until a relief crew could arrive. That required getting one more 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 presupposed to use MS-23, that crew’s departure date on MS-24 was delayed to no sooner than Sept. 15 for his or her MS-24 reassignment.
Assuming this all goes to plan, Rubio and his crewmates will finally depart space on Sept. 27.
“As much because it was a challenge to say an additional six months, I’m so grateful that the agency was capable of say, ‘Hey, you understand what the secure thing to do could be: To fireplace up a brand new spacecraft, and have (my crew) wait and ensure a more secure return,” Rubio said in the decision, adding, “I’m looking forward to a return on a more secure and safer spacecraft.”
Nelson and Melroy, each flown astronauts from the space shuttle program, paid tribute to the challenges Rubio had faced in orbit. (Melroy flew 3 times as a NASA astronaut. Nelson, then a member of the House of Representatives on an area committee, flew on mission STS-61C in 1986 under a program NASA then had for non-professionals to succeed in space.)
“You made all types of records up there, and you’ve got had six months that you simply didn’t expect,” said Nelson, speaking from NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Melroy, standing beside Nelson within the view of the video, said Rubio’s wife and youngsters “have been on my mind a lot.” The previous astronaut added she wanted to ascertain in to make certain Rubio was getting the support he needed.
Rubio said that the NASA community had rallied around him, sending people over to the home as needed to assist the family. Luckily, upgrades to NASA’s web on station got here in during his mission as well, allowing for high-quality video conferences with family no less than twice per week, he said.
Rubio joked that his only regret was not eating one among the space-grown Red Robin tomatoes his crew tended, and managed to save lots of from an unexpected humidity drop on ISS at a vital 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 searching for that thing,” he quipped. “I’m sure the desiccated tomato will show up sooner or later and vindicate me, years in the longer term.”
Only seven astronauts have spent greater than a 12 months in space. Except for the trio on MS-22/23, the opposite 4 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 12 months resulting from 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 probably the most memorable a part of his own stay was “the folks that I got to spend that much time [with] … intensively, each working and playing as much as we possibly can.”