SPACE STATION ASTRONAUT DISCUSSES

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio of NASA answered questions about life and work on the orbiting laboratory and discussed his record-breaking mission during an in-flight conversation recorded on Sept. 5 with NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei who was in Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center. Rubio surpassed Vande Hei’s previous record for the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut – 355 days – on Sept. 11. Rubio will wrap up his long duration flight on the station on Sept. 27 with a total of 371 days in space. Research conducted during long-duration missions such as this benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.

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