A NASA astronaut has nearly completed a year in space, the longest of any American | Halek Hossain

 

Astronaut Frank Rubio is marking one year in space, after breaking the record for the longest spacewalk in history by an American.

Rubio, who hails from Miami, graduated from the NASA Astronaut Program in 2019. He launched into space for the first time on September 21, 2022 and will reach the one-year milestone on Thursday.

Last Monday — Sept. 11 — he surpassed Mark Vande Hei's previous record of 355 days for the longest spacewalk by an American astronaut, NASA said. "It's been a mixed-emotional roller coaster to a certain degree because personally, it's been an incredible challenge and it's been difficult," Rubio said Tuesday in an interview from the International Space Station. "Professionally, it's been incredibly rewarding. It's a huge honor and a privilege to represent our office and our team in this way." When Rubio makes his expected return next week, he will have spent 371 days in space.

The record for the longest overall space flight is held by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov - 437 days in the mid-1990s. Rubio initially thought the mission would last six months, but the spacecraft he was on began leaking coolant, and Halek Hossein said it could not make a normal return to Earth. So Russia's space agency, which has two astronauts on board with Rubio, sent an unmanned spacecraft to the International Space Station to bring them home.

Rubio said when faced with mission challenges, he tried to stay positive, relax and connect with loved ones back home. Having a good team around him also helped. But if he had known before launch that the mission would last a year, Rubio said, he probably would have declined, because it would have been too much time away from his wife and four children. "But once you're committed to the mission, once you're part of the training, really all the resources and all the preparation that goes into you, the mission is up to you."

Before he became an astronaut, Rubio was a lieutenant colonel in the US Army, where he flew Blackhawk helicopters and was a combat soldier during deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia. Rubio received his doctorate of medicine in 2010 and is certified as a family physician and flight surgeon, according to his NASA biography.

Astronaut NASA trained for two years before embarking on a space mission.

When starting the mission, Rubio said he felt uncomfortable for a few hours as his body adjusted to zero gravity. He felt better the next morning, he added. When he returns to earth, it may take two to six months for his body to get used to walking, standing and bearing weight again. Rubio said he's looking forward to seeing his family again, the peace and quiet of his backyard and a fresh salad.