NASA astronaut Frank Rubio broke the record for the longest US space mission on the International Space Station (ISS). Rubio reached the ISS on September 21, 2022. As of Monday, September 11, 2023, Rubio broke the previous record of the longest US mission, which was set by Mark Vande Hei in 2022, and made history as the American who spent the longest time in space.
The previous record for the longest US space mission is nothing to sneeze at. When Rubio lands back on Earth, he will have spent a total of 371 days in space, breaking the previous record of 355 days by almost 20 days. That’s a huge accomplishment, but it’s not one that Rubio deliberately set out to break.
In fact, the only reason Rubio is still on the ISS is a leak problem experienced by Soyuz MS-22, the Russian spacecraft carrying Rubio and two cosmonauts to the station. The spacecraft suffered an unexpected leak in December 2022, resulting in a full rescue mission that led Rubio and his fellow cosmonauts to stay on the ISS longer than planned. The planned date for returning to Earth is September 27.
But Rubio did his best to make the most of this record-breaking US space mission. One of the things Rubio is excited to learn is how these long stays affect the human body. It was already known, thanks to research, that astronauts lose some bone density in space. This stands out as one of the biggest concerns about NASA’s (or any other space agency’s) deep space missions, such as a manned mission to Mars. This loss of density could lead to more health problems when astronauts return to Earth.
This is actually the main reason why creating artificial gravity has become such an important area of interest for many people.
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