When astronaut Frank Rubio launched to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) in September 2022, he was scheduled to return again to Earth in six months’ time. Rubio’s journey to his house planet, nonetheless, suffered a malfunction that left him stranded in low Earth orbit. On account of the mishap, Rubio is ready to spend greater than a yr in area, breaking the file for the longest period mission by a U.S. astronaut.
On Monday, the NASA astronaut will beat the earlier file of 355 days set by Mark Vande Hei in 2022. Rubio will return to Earth no sooner than September 27, logging in 371 days in Earth orbit and changing into the primary U.S. astronaut, and certainly one of solely six individuals, to spend a yr in area.
Though it wasn’t intentional, Rubio is making essentially the most out of his prolonged time in area. “I believe this [duration] is absolutely important within the sense that it teaches us that the human physique can endure,” Rubio mentioned throughout a latest interview with ABC’s Good Morning America. “As we put together to push again to the moon after which from there, onward onto hopefully Mars and additional on into the photo voltaic system—I believe it’s actually necessary that we study simply how the human physique learns to advertapt, and the way we are able to optimize that course of in order that we are able to enhance our efficiency as we discover additional and additional out from Earth.”
Rubio launched to the ISS on September 21, 2022. He was the primary to journey on board a Soyuz spacecraft since April 2021, the results of a seat-swap settlement between NASA and Roscosmos which stipulated {that a} U.S. astronaut would journey aboard the Russian capsule in change for a Russian cosmonaut boarding a SpaceX Crew Dragon for the very first time.
In December 2022, the Soyuz spacecraft that transported Rubio, together with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, started leaking coolant into low Earth orbit whereas connected to the ISS. The precise cause behind the leak was not formally introduced, however the spacecraft was deemed unfit to fly the trio again to Earth.
Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio’s keep on the station was prolonged for one more six months, and the three-person crew is ready to return on board Soyuz MS-23 later this month. Equally to Rubio, the earlier record-holder, Vande Hei, was additionally not conscious of the period of time he would find yourself spending on the ISS earlier than launching to Earth orbit. As a substitute, Vande Hei’s keep on the area station was additionally prolonged to accommodate a two-person Russian movie crew taking pictures a film on the ISS.
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