Frank Rubio of NASA shatters the record for the longest space journey

Frank Rubio of NASA now holds the record for the longest space mission by an American.

On Monday onboard the International Space Station, Rubio broke the American record for longest stay in space, which stood at 355 days. He and two Russians arrived to the outpost in September of last year for a typical six-month stay. However, their Soyuz capsule’s coolant leak when it was parked at the space station caused their stay to be extended by two days.

On September 27, the group will return to Earth in a replacement capsule that was launched empty for the trip back. By that time, Rubio would have been in space for 371 days, which is more than two weeks longer than Mark Vande Hei, the previous American record holder for a single spaceflight. Russia now owns the record for the longest space mission with 437 days, which it achieved in the mid-1990s.

Frank, your commitment is simply extraordinary. Bill Nelson, the director of NASA, said on X, previously known as Twitter.

On Friday, a new crew consisting of two Russians and one American will launch to the station from Kazakhstan.

Unrelated to this, UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi demonstrates how honey develops in space in a recent video that has gone viral online. The UAE astronaut posted the film on his official Instagram account, unreservedly apologizing to the public. As a snack, AINeyadi is seen in the film squeezing the liquid over some dry bread.

The astronaut can be seen holding the upright honey container in the footage. Later on in the video, he holds a slice of bread on top of the bottle and squeezes a substantial quantity of honey. The liquid clings to the bread slice as it pours out and congeals into a ball.

Ever wonder how honey develops in space? I sometimes eat some Emirati honey that is still in my possession. “Honey has many advantages, especially for astronauts’ health,” he wrote beside the video.

The video has gained enormous popularity since it was posted and has captured everyone’s attention.

An Instagram user posed the question, “How is the process of swallowing with the loss of gravity, is it easy, normal, or is it somewhat difficult?” A another commenter said, “I feel that even food is related to the throat, it doesn’t go down, and the pension in the face, I feel it when it goes down, it goes up.”