2023-09-13 18:18:37
Frank Rubio this week became the American with the longest stay in space, surpassing 355 consecutive days, although he was originally scheduled to stay only six months on the International Space Station.
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“It has been an incredible challenge, but also in other ways an incredible blessing,” he said on Wednesday from the space station (ISS), during a discussion broadcast live with the head of NASA.
“I can’t wait to reach 365” days, added the astronaut, trained doctor and helicopter pilot. “This will be an important milestone for our nation.”
The previous record for an American was set in 2022 by astronaut Mark Vande Hei, with 355 consecutive days. The absolute record for the longest stay in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Valéri Poliakov, with 437 days.
When Frank Rubio returns to Earth, normally on September 27, he will have spent 371 days in space.
However, he took off in September 2022 aboard a Russian rocket, thinking of leaving for a classic six-month mission, in the company of two Russian cosmonauts.
But the Soyuz spacecraft which was to bring them back — as always remained attached to the ISS for the duration of their mission in order to be able to serve as a rescue vehicle if necessary — suffered a leak in December, probably due to a micrometeorite impact.
As a precaution, the Russian agency Roscosmos brought back this vessel, and sent another, empty. Frank Rubio and his two colleagues thus carried out the mission of the crew which was initially to arrive on board this second vessel and replace them.
During his stay on the ISS, Frank Rubio, of Hispanic origin, will have seen other crews arrive and leave, meeting a total of no less than 28 people of multiple nationalities, he noted on Wednesday.
“If I count correctly, that’s almost 5 percent of all the people who have ever been to space, which is pretty incredible,” he said.
He listed the many scientific experiments carried out on board. “When you’re there for a while, you really focus on the work, and sometimes you forget to appreciate the fact that you’re floating with this incredible view below,” he said.
But he acknowledged that the experience hadn’t always been easy.
“In the resort you are limited to the equivalent of a five-bedroom house, so psychologically, for a year, it was a bit of a challenge,” he said.
Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson holds the American record for the number of days spent in space in a lifetime, with 675 days during several different missions.
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