Frank Rubio, an American of Salvadoran parents, is now officially the NASA astronaut who has spent the most consecutive days outside of our planet. The US space agency congratulated him this Wednesday during an interaction broadcast live from the International Space Station (ISS). Rubio surpassed last Monday Mark Vande Hei, who spent 355 days in space from 2021 to 2022.
“It’s been a great challenge and, on the other hand, a great blessing,” Rubio told NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who reached us from Washington. “I feel like I’m lucky,” shared Rubio, who spent so much time off Earth, initially due to the glitch.
The astronaut arrived at the ISS in September 2022 along with two crew members from the Russian agency Roscosmos. This mission It was planned to be completed in six months. However, last December, a few days before Christmas, a micrometeorite collided with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the station.
As a result of the impact, the car’s cooling system was destroyed. Cameras captured a spectacular ammonia leak. The stricken ship was supposed to take him and his two Russian companions home, but technicians determined it was no longer safe.
First American astronaut with record year in space
A rescue plan was announced at the beginning of the year. It was decided to launch another Russian spacecraft, this time unmanned, to pick up the stranded astronauts. An investigation into the meteorite incident delayed the mission. Finally, on February 24, the Soyuz MS-23 was launched. He traveled with about 450 kilograms of cargo, including equipment and food. The damaged MS-22 returned to Earth empty.
Roscosmos said at the time that the return would take place in September, when the next Russian spacecraft, Soyuz MS-24, would set off with a new replacement crew. Returning home is scheduled for September 27. By then, the group will have spent 371 days in orbit.. “It was unexpected,” Rubio said Wednesday during a video call from the space station. “In some ways it was incredibly difficult.”
Rubio and his Russian colleagues were in space for so long that They saw about 28 colleagues from different countries pass through the station. During its stay, five different Crew Dragon missions operated by SpaceX arrived at the space station. They were also visited by the private mission “Axiom-2”.
This is not a world record for being in space.
Rubio will too the first American to spend more than a year in space. He does not hold the record for the person who has been away from the planet the longest. Firstly, because he shares his days on the ISS with his two Russian colleagues, Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin. And secondly, because the record for the person who spent the longest time in space belongs to another Russian.
Astronaut Valery Polyakov, who died last year, spent 437 consecutive days in orbit on the Russian Mir space station.. This was from January 1994 to March 1995. Unlike Rubio and his comrades, Polyakov actually traveled with the intention of setting a record.
Rubio participated in several scientific experiments during his long mission. The list includes six studies aimed at understanding how spaceflight affects human physiology and psychology, NASA explained in a statement.
“Every day we’re here, we learn a little more about how the human body reacts in space,” Rubio explained. “We continue to conduct research on the station that will help us further explore our solar system deeper and deeper.”
Immune system assessment
Rubio is the first astronaut to take part in a study examining how limited exercise exercise affects the human body. Instead of running on the space station treadmill, Rubio trained on the space station bike and on a weightlifting machine.
He is also one of the few astronauts helping the researchers. check if the improved diet after all, space flight can help people better adapt to life in space. Scientists will analyze whether following Rubio’s diet improved his immune system. “I want to see what will happen to my body” – the astronaut commented in another interview.
A study published in June confirmed how a team of astronauts recorded decreased activity of leukocyte genes, is critical for the immune system. The analysis was conducted on 14 astronauts who spent four to six months aboard the ISS.
The analysis showed that gene expression in these cells, also called white blood cells, dropped rapidly when they arrived in space. This could explain, for example, why That astronauts more prone to infections during spaceflight.
Source: Hiper Textual
