After being stranded on the International Space Station due to technical issues with his spacecraft, the NASA astronaut who holds the record for the longest time in space said the latest crew member stranded in orbit will have to change their daily routine because of the unexpected problem.
Experienced Boeing Starliner Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are trapped in space and won't be able to return home until February.
What was originally planned to be an eight-day space trip stretched into several months, and NASA officials said over the weekend that the troubled spacecraft would return to Earth without them.
To get the astronauts home, SpaceX will launch its Dragon capsule to the space station in September with two astronauts instead of the planned four, and then return with four astronauts, including Wilmore and Williams, in February.
NASA plans to send just two astronauts to the ISS instead of four to allow two stranded astronauts to return home after the Boeing Starliner crash.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio spoke to Fox News Digital about how a long-term stay on the International Space Station will affect his exercise and nutrition habits. (Fox News Digital)
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who holds the record for the longest single-duration spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, has been in a similar situation to Wilmore and Williams.
On September 21, 2022, Rubio was the first to be launched into space aboard a Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petrin. The spacecraft experienced a coolant leak, causing the mission to be extended until another Soyuz spacecraft could be launched to replace the damaged one. The new spacecraft was scheduled to launch on February 23, 2023.
Rubio ultimately spent 371 days in space, which isn't the most time anyone has ever spent in space at one time — that record was held by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 consecutive days aboard the former Mir space station in 1994 and 1995.
Rubio told Fox News Digital that spending 371 days in space “has its pros and cons.”
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A Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, similar to the one used to launch NASA astronaut Frank Rubio into orbit in 2022, is seen after detaching from the International Space Station in December 2021. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
“You’re going to experience something that most people have never experienced before, and the longer you do it, the more natural it becomes. [and] “It enhances your ability to work and get things done in space,” he said. “So it's great in that respect. And the fact that you can look out the window and have the best view of the planet from outside the planet is pretty amazing. So it keeps you motivated, [it is] wonderful.”
But there are some challenges, he said.
For example, Rubio said, astronauts miss their loved ones, friends and favorite activities outside of work — all of which can combine to take a toll on them mentally.
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NASA Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA)
“I think most people would say the fact that they're there and they appreciate what a unique experience it is — the good outweighs the bad — and they just try to make the most of it, knowing that they only have a limited amount of time to do it,” Rubio said.
Rubio compared his own mission to that of Wilmore and Williams, saying part of the job is having deep trust in the NASA team and knowing all kinds of testing and analysis are being done to ensure the safety of the crew.
“That's really a great comfort and helps us deal with the difficulties that come with knowing that the mission has been extended,” he said. “The fact that this is the safest route possible is a great help to cope.”
Boeing Starliner launches two NASA astronauts into space on first crewed test flight
Pictured are NASA's Expedition 71 crew and Starliner crew flight test members Suni Williams (first row from left) and Butch Wilmore (first row from right). (NASA)
Switching from an eight-day mission to an eight-month mission also means a change in daily routine.
Exercise on an eight-day mission would likely not be as important as it would be on an eight-month mission, given the level of debilitation the human body would experience, Rubio said.
“If you're here for more than two months, your fitness will decline pretty quickly, so daily physical training, including both strength and cardiovascular training, is really important,” Rubio said, adding that he believed this training began once Wilmore and Williams learned they'd be aboard the ISS for more than a week. “For the next eight months — the whole eight months — they're going to be training pretty much the same way, about two hours a day.”
As the first astronaut to take part in a study examining how exercising with limited gym equipment affects the human body, Rubio experienced firsthand the importance of exercise on long-term missions.
During his time confined to the space station, he worked out on the ISS's only bike and weightlifting machine, and the research he participated in will be useful for future crewed missions to the Moon and Mars on spacecraft that don't have the space for treadmills.
Rubio's mission helped lay the foundation for the “Standard Measures” study, which looked at the effects of spaceflight on the human body.
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“The hardest thing about human spaceflight is the humans: how do you stay healthy, and not just healthy, but capable of doing really difficult missions,” Rubio said, reflecting on questions that remain about long-term missions like returning to the moon or even landing on Mars someday. “We're working on that every day, but it's not just the exercise part; it's the nutrition part. What's the optimal amount of sleep? What kind of psychological training do you need to make sure you launch in a healthy mindset and maintain a healthy team dynamic while you're there?”
“All of that is taken into consideration, and we have great teams working on each component,” he added. “Eventually, we'll integrate that testing and start testing it as a whole system. … As we continue down that path, I think we're going to learn more and more and be able to do really hard things.”
Fox News Digital's Pilar Arias contributed to this report.
