NASA astronaut Frank Rubio marked one entire 12 months in house on Thursday.
It was by no means meant to be that means, however a coolant leak in December impacting the Soyuz spacecraft that introduced him to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) meant he and his two Russian colleagues had their return journey rescheduled, leaving the trio in orbit for a further six months.
Rubio set a brand new NASA report for the longest single orbital mission on September 11 when his keep surpassed that of Mark Vande Hei, who spent 355 days in house earlier than returning to Earth in March final 12 months.
NASA shared a brief video displaying a number of the highlights of Rubio’s time aboard the house station during the last 12 months:
Rubio, who’s on his first journey to house, is scheduled to return to Earth subsequent week, extending his whole time in orbit to 371 days.
“His record-breaking mission has included dozens of scientific investigations which have helped researchers higher perceive how people thrive whereas residing and dealing in house,” NASA mentioned in a message marking the American astronaut’s full 12 months in orbit.
However it appeared like there was little time to rejoice the one-year anniversary: “Rubio spent most of his 365th day on station maintenance, performing upkeep on the Human Analysis Facility, eradicating and changing its stress sensor block. Within the night, he collected organic samples for the continued Customary Measures investigation,” NASA mentioned.
Astronauts often keep aboard the house station for six months earlier than returning dwelling, so NASA researchers might be eager to conduct checks upon his return to find out about how his prolonged keep has affected him each bodily and mentally. Something realized might assist NASA refine plans for prolonged crewed missions to the moon and the primary astronaut voyages to Mars.
On the finish of Rubio’s mission, solely two different people could have spent an extended time period in house throughout a single mission. The report keep is by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who lived aboard the Mir house station for 437 days and 18 hours within the mid-1990s.
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