After spending a year listening to the constant noise of the complex machinery that keeps the International Space Station habitable, astronaut Frank Rubio is looking forward to some quiet on Earth.
Rubio is scheduled to return to land next week after completing a 371-day mission, the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut.
On September 11, he broke the previous record for the longest continuous spaceflight by an American, and on Thursday he will complete a full year in space.in Press conference In a video from the International Space Station on Tuesday, Rubio talked about what he’s most looking forward to when he returns home on Sept. 27: family, fresh food and silence.
“Honestly, hugging my wife and kids is obviously going to be the most important thing for me, and that’s probably what I’m going to focus on for the first few days,” Rubio said slowly in zero gravity. He spoke while shaking.
He also said he was looking forward to returning to his quiet backyard and “enjoying the trees and the silence.”
Rubio’s return will be all the sweeter because, when he was launched on Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome last September, he expected to be home in six months instead of a year. right.
Those plans changed after a coolant leak in the Soyuz spacecraft was discovered in December. The leak may have caused Potentially deadly high temperatures Rubio’s return was delayed as another spacecraft was sent to the space station to carry the crew back to Earth.
Rubio said if he had been asked to do the one-year assignment before his training began, he would have turned it down out of concern for his family. But he said if NASA had asked him to make such a trip deeper into his two-year training, he would have agreed because that’s his job.
He admitted that spending a year in space, away from his loved ones, had taken a toll on him mentally, adding that the space station was a “very harsh environment” so it was important to stay mentally strong. said.
“One of the things that I have tried to do and have hopefully achieved – and certainly not perfectly – is to remain positive and stable throughout the mission, despite the internal ups and downs. Keep doing it,” Rubio said. . “I try to stay consistent and just focus on the job and the mission, because at the end of the day you have to show up every day and do your job.”
Before Rubio’s mission, Mark Vande Hei held the record for the longest consecutive spaceflight by an American, returning to Earth in March 2022 after spending 355 days on the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Dr. Valery Polyakov, who passed away last year, holds the world record for consecutive days in space with 437 days.
Rubio conducted a number of studies on the space station. science projectThis includes research into how bacteria adapt to spaceflight and how exercise affects humans during long-duration missions.
In a previous interview Rubio said one of his favorite projects with NASA is studying tomato plants to see how air and water-based cultivation techniques affect them. This research could help find ways to grow crops on a larger scale in space.
“I love working with that little plant and watching it grow and develop,” he said.
At a news conference Tuesday, Rubio talked about the camaraderie inside the space station. During his stay, he had a crew of 28 people, including friends. Loral O’Harafellow NASA astronauts who arrived at the space station last week.
Rubio said that when people arrive at the space station for the first time, those who have already arrived there will help teach them basic tasks such as how to use the bathroom, prepare meals, and how to sleep. Told.
“Little things that we take for granted on Earth, we have to relearn here,” Rubio said.
Rubio before joining the space program served in the US Army Then I went on to medical school. He flew more than 1,100 hours as a helicopter pilot, including deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Although he was born in Los Angeles, he considers Miami his hometown.
On his first day in space, Rubio said he felt sick as his body adjusted to life in zero gravity. Now he is preparing his muscles and bones to get used to standing and supporting his weight again. He estimated that it would take him two to six months to feel normal.
“This is my first assignment. I don’t know how my body will react,” he said.