NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is set to return to Earth this fall after setting the record for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut. He arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on September 21, 2022, and will return home after 371 days in space. While on the orbiting lab, Rubio an
, and will return home after 371 days in space. While on the orbiting lab, Rubio and his fellow crew members conducted dozens of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations.In the Orbiting Biology Lab
View of tomatoes growing in the eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System facility. The tomatoes were grown without soil using hydroponic and aeroponic nourishing techniques to demonstrate space agricultural methods to sustain crews on long term space flights farther away from Earth where resupply missions become impossible. Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio performs maintenance on the International Space Station’s treadmill located in the Tranquility module. Credit: NASA During his mission, Frank Rubio helped install the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer for an April 2023 launch of six different satellites, including projects designed by students in Canada. Private, governmental, and academic organizations use the space station to deploy small satellites called CubeSats into Earth’s orbit for a variety of research objectives.
Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio completes a Surface Avatar session in the Columbus Laboratory Module. Surface Avatar investigates how haptic controls, user interfaces and virtual reality could command and control surface-bound robots from long distances. Credit: NASA The Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction Growth and Extinction Limits experiment successfully conducted its first test in the Combustion Integrated Rack aboard the International Space Station on January 13th. This image shows a 4-cm diameter sphere of acrylic burning in microgravity. The atmosphere started at 17.5% oxygen in nitrogen and air flow is from right to left at 20 cm/s.