Regardless of holding the title for the longest stint in house by a NASA astronaut, Frank Rubio would have fairly not spent all that additional time in low Earth orbit and away from his household. In a latest interview, the astronaut revealed that he would have probably turned down the mission had he recognized it could lengthen over a 12 months as an alternative of the deliberate six months.
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“If they’d requested me up entrance earlier than coaching, since you do practice for a 12 months or two years in your mission, I in all probability would have declined,” Rubio instructed reporters on Tuesday throughout a stay broadcast from the Worldwide House Station (ISS). “It could have harm, however I might have declined.”
Rubio launched to the ISS on September 21, 2022 on board a Russian Soyuz crew capsule. In December 2022, the spacecraft that transported Rubio, together with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, started leaking coolant into low Earth orbit whereas hooked up to the ISS. Consequently, the spacecraft was deemed unfit to fly the trio again to Earth.
“Had I recognized that I needed to miss these essential occasions, I simply would have needed to say ‘thanks, however no thanks.’”
Rubio’s mission was prolonged from a six-month keep on board the house station to a bit over a 12 months. The NASA astronaut is about to return to Earth on September 27, logging in 371 days in Earth orbit and changing into the primary U.S. astronaut, and one in all solely six folks, to spend a 12 months in house. On September 11, Rubio beat the earlier report of 355 days set by Mark Vande Hei in 2022.
It’s definitely an excellent achievement, however one the astronaut wouldn’t have willingly signed up for. “That’s solely due to household issues that had been happening this previous 12 months,” he instructed reporters. “Had I recognized that I needed to miss these essential occasions, I simply would have needed to say ‘thanks, however no thanks.’”
Though he wasn’t ready to spend over a 12 months on board the ISS, Rubio acknowledges that non-public sacrifices have to be made with a purpose to preserve the house station operational for the previous 23 years. “We’ve got to get the mission completed,” he mentioned.
It’s a uncommon perception into the mindset of astronauts who should spend months away from residence. “When it lastly grew to become actual that it was gonna require me to remain for a full 12 months … it was tough,” Rubio mentioned. The mission additionally marked Rubio’s first time in house.
If all goes nicely, Rubio will board a Soyuz MS-23 in per week’s time and return again to the floor of his residence planet. “Hugging my spouse and children goes to be paramount and I’ll in all probability deal with that for the primary couple days,” Rubio mentioned, discussing what he anticipates upon returning to Earth. “I believe simply going out within the yard and having fun with the bushes and the silence. Up right here, we form of have the fixed hum of equipment…so I’m wanting ahead to only being outdoors and having fun with the peace and quiet.”
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