After spending a year on the International Space Station, listening to the constant hum of machinery, astronaut Frank Rubio is eagerly anticipating the silence of Earth.
Next week, Mr. Rubio is scheduled to return home after a 371-day mission, the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut.
On Sept. 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 a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Rubio discussed his excitement for his homecoming and mentioned his family, fresh food, and the much-awaited silence.
“For me, honestly, obviously, hugging my wife and kids is going to be paramount, and I’ll probably focus on that for the first couple days,” said Mr. Rubio as he floated gently in microgravity.
He also expressed his longing for the tranquility of his backyard and the serenity that comes with being surrounded by nature and silence.
His return home will be especially meaningful because when he launched into space aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last September, he anticipated a six-month mission, not a year.
However, plans changed when a coolant leak was detected in the Soyuz spacecraft in December. This leak posed the risk of fatal temperatures for the crew upon their return to Earth, prompting a delay in Mr. Rubio’s journey home.
Mr. Rubio admitted that if he had been asked to embark on a yearlong mission before his training, he would have declined due to his family commitments. Nevertheless, he would have agreed if NASA had proposed such a trip later in his training because it was his job.
He acknowledged that spending a year in space, away from loved ones, took a toll on him psychologically and emphasized the importance of maintaining mental strength in the space station’s demanding and unforgiving environment.
“One thing that I’ve tried to do, and hopefully have achieved — I certainly haven’t done it perfectly — is just to kind of stay positive and stay steady throughout the mission despite the internal ups and downs,” Mr. Rubio explained. “You try to just focus on the job and on the mission and remain steady, because ultimately every day you have to show up and do the work.”
Before Mr. Rubio’s mission, Mark Vande Hei held the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by an American, spending 355 days aboard the International Space Station before returning to Earth in March 2022. The world record for consecutive days in space is held by Dr. Valery Polyakov, a Russian astronaut who passed away last year, with a total of 437 days.
During his time on the space station, Mr. Rubio worked on various scientific projects, including studying how bacteria adapt to spaceflight and investigating the effects of exercise on humans during extended missions.
One of his favorite projects involved studying the growth of tomato plants using different techniques. This research aims to find ways to cultivate crops on a larger scale in space.
“I love working with that little plant and seeing it grow and develop,” he shared.
In the news conference, Mr. Rubio also spoke about the sense of camaraderie among the space station’s crew. Throughout his time there, he had 28 crewmates, including his friend Loral O’Hara, a fellow NASA astronaut who recently arrived at the space station.
Mr. Rubio highlighted the assistance provided by the experienced crew members to new arrivals, teaching them basic tasks such as using the restroom, preparing food, and sleeping in space.
“All the little things you kind of take for granted on Earth, you kind of have to learn anew up here,” Mr. Rubio explained.
Before joining the space program, Mr. Rubio served in the U.S. Army and attended medical school. He logged over 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, Mr. Rubio experienced motion sickness as his body adjusted to the space environment. Now, he is preparing for the readjustment of his muscles and bones to gravity. He estimated that it would take two to six months before he feels back to normal.
“Being my first mission, I just don’t know how my body is going to react,” he said.
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