NASA astronaut, Francisco Carlos Rubio, is close to setting a new record for having the longest mission by an American astronaut. The man, also known as Frank Rubio, has Salvadoran origin and could beat astronaut Mark Vande Hei who currently has the longest stay in outer space at the moment.
With his panorama, Frank Rubio will soon get to more than a year in space, which is going to be enough to surpass Vande Hei, who had a 341-day mission in the past. However, the situation is far from perfect, as the American space explorer might face some challenges upon his travel back to our planet.
The NASA professional is expected to complete 365 days on a mission, which was initially intended to be six months long. However, due to technical issues, he must remain on the Russian spacecraft, Soyuz MS-22, longer than planned. Rubio, who is part of a crew with Russian astronauts Sergey Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin, was originally scheduled to return to planet Earth in spring. Unfortunately, the spacecraft had a coolant leak in December, so Russia’s space agency sent a new one and took the damaged craft back to Earth.
In addition, the situation regarding the man’s return was discussed as part of a televised show by NASA, in collaboration with the Ibero-American Scientific and Cultural News and the Association of Ibero-American Educational and Cultural Televisions. In that event, the spaceman made an appearance in the “Ibero-America in Orbit”. where he answered questions made by children from Spain and Latin America.
One of the kids asked what it felt like to be in zero gravity. Rubio stated that considering the distance he is from Earth, he can still feel 90% of the gravity. This is because the spacecraft is in constant motion and reaches very high speeds. He later clarified that he got used to the sensation of flying, and also said that it will feel a little bit strange when he returns to Earth.