‘It’s an Exciting Time to be at NASA’: USU Alumnus, Army Doc Heads to Space Station

By Sharon Holland

For Frank Rubio, it’s an exciting time to be at NASA. The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) class of 2010 graduate, who was selected in 2020 to be among the first team of astronauts to return to the moon as part of the future Artemis mission, will be headed to the International Space Station on September 21 as a flight engineer for NASA’s Expedition 68 – USU’s second alumnus to go to space in the past three years. 

If you listen to Rubio talk about his upcoming launch, excitement seems to be the predominant theme. 

“We’re fully ready to go, and we’re excited about the mission,” Rubio said during a recent press conference. “It’s an incredibly important mission. Our partnership between NASA and Roscosmos [the Russian space agency] has been ongoing for a long time and it’s really been a good and strong relationship.” Rubio will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Soyuz MS 22, under a United States-Russian integrated crew agreement that sends him into space now, while Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina joins NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada on the Dragon Endurance for a launch into space from Florida later this year. Rubio will be joined by Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin aboard Soyuz. 

USU Associate Dean for Simulation Education and Director of the Val G. Hemming Simulation Center, Dr. Joseph Lopreiato, chats with NASA Astronaut and
 USU alumnus Frank Rubio following a 2020 NASA panel discussion at USU. (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, USU)

“I think this crew swap really represents the ongoing effort of tremendous teams on both sides and amazing people that made this happen. I think it’s important that when we’re at moments of possible tension elsewhere, that human spaceflight and exploration – something that both agencies are incredibly passionate about – remains a form of diplomacy and partnership, where we can find common ground and keep achieving great things together,” said Rubio, alluding to the Russian-Ukraine conflict. “We all get along great. They’ve become good friends of mine. Sergei is a former Russian Air Force pilot. Dmitri is an engineer, but more importantly, they’ve gotten to know my family, I’ve gotten to know their families. We all have similar priorities – family comes first. Our main focus is to make this mission happen as safely and productively as possible to ensure we get everything tasked to us done. I always say that no matter where we’re from, if more people just got to know each other, I think we’d be very pleasantly surprised at the commonalities that we have and how well we get along together.”

Rubio, a Florida native of Salvadoran descent who was selected for the astronaut program in 2017, has been in Russia for a few months, continuing the intense training necessary in preparation for the mission to space. He described some of the rigorous preparations that will help him adjust to the gravitational forces he will face during launch and the return to earth. 

USU alumnus and NASA astronaut, Army Col. (Dr.) Andrew
Morgan joins Frank Rubio for the launch. Morgan was USU's
first graduate to go to space in 2019. [Photo credit: Army Col.
(Dr.) Andrew Morgan]

“The most common training we get is in the T-38 jet aircraft, which is a supersonic high performance jet. Just being able to fly that on a regular basis provides amazing training. We also conduct training at American – and because I’m assigned to the Soyuz, I’ve had a chance to train in Russian – centrifuges, and those provide possibly the most realistic training in the sense that they can dial it down to exactly the type of forces that you’ll be feeling during your mission profile,” he said. 

Rubio said the last couple of weeks before launch include simulation training primarily in the Soyuz and the Russian segment of the International Space Station.  

“We’ll have final exams on them. They are all-day events. Then they’ll take a day full of normal things and possible emergencies that could happen and make sure we’re trained and ready to go. Once we pass those, we head down to Baikonur. We’ll continue to train for the mission and then transition to quarantine and spend more time as a crew together. We’ll continue to bond and hopefully get to see our families during the last week or so. Unfortunately, during quarantine that can be limited exposure to family, but we will hopefully get to see them. And then we launch.”

Separating from his family is the toughest part, Rubio said. “I’ve got an incredible family. They’ve all stepped up to the plate and really made this as easy as possible for me. It’s been a challenge, but we’ve all gone at it with a positive attitude and try to just embrace what it represents.”  

USU alumnus and NASA astronaut, Army Col. (Dr.) Andrew Morgan is with the Rubio family for the launch in Kazakhstan. Morgan, who was USU’s first graduate in space, went to the International Space Station in 2019 as part of Expeditions 60, 61, and 62 in July 2019. He spent 272 days in space, returning in April 2020. Rubio served as the escort for Morgan’s family at his launch. According to Morgan, "it’s the greatest honor an astronaut can have in support of their colleagues."

Once Rubio launches, he will travel 250 miles into space to reach the International Space Station. Once there, he’ll learn whether or not he’ll participate in space walks.  

“We spent a ton of time training for EVAs, or spacewalks. All of us are excited to hopefully participate in those,” he said. “There are four incredibly talented crew members on the USOS side who are all fully trained and we’ll all be excited for each other regardless of who’s doing what. We’ll do our best to support each other and make sure we have success in everything we do up there.”

Part of what he’ll be doing up there are research experiments.

“There are some really neat biological experiments that I look forward to, obviously, because of my background. A biofabrication experiment will be up there, and the possibilities that that represents of being possibly able to produce human organs would just be phenomenal in our capability to deal with human disease back here on Earth. Those types of things are just – sometimes they’re mind blowing. When you think about the fact that we get to participate in a small but significant way in helping to make those a reality it is truly exciting,” Rubio said, describing an experiment for USU’s Center for Biotechnology (4DBio3) program, Fabrication in Austere Medical Environments (FAME). Rubio will be performing follow-up work for a meniscus bioprinting experiment.  

Rubio will also be helping out with research looking at whether or not a healthier diet affects performance in space. He said he’ll be consuming some “really great food that includes lots of Omega 3s and lots of foods high in vitamins.” 

“I’m excited about being part of that experiment, excited about food that we’ll eat up there. The good thing about being an Army astronaut,” Rubio said, “is that I’m used to eating MREs (meals ready to eat) quite a bit being out in the field, so I think that’s prepared me well for my six months on station.”

NASA astronaut candidate Frank Rubio poses for a portrait in the anechoic chamber, Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
(Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

As for his future with the Artemis program once back at NASA, Rubio says “I was assigned to this mission, so my focus has been primarily on my training and my ISS mission. But, I’m excited about whoever is going to get to do the first couple of Artemis missions. It’s important to note there are 50 incredible astronauts that are all incredibly capable and willing, and looking forward to possibly doing that mission. I’ll count it as a huge blessing if I do get to participate in that in the future. But for now, I’ve tried to stay focused on this, and I’m really excited. I get to go to space. I get to go to the ISS. I get to do some incredible things that very few people get the opportunity to do. The reality is that fewer than 600 people have gotten to go into space in the history of humanity, so just to be one of the incredibly lucky and blessed few that get to do this – I just think it’s a humbling feeling and humbling experience.”

And it’s exciting.

(Watch Rubio’s launch live on www.nasa.gov/live at 9:54 a.m. ET on September 21, 2022).