Four Astronauts will be making a public appearance at Space Center Houston this week to share stories of their recent mission to the International Space Station.
One of the astronauts holds the current record for the longest single mission aboard the ISS.
NASA announced on Monday that crew members from Expedition 68 to the ISS would appear at the space center on December 6. This will be the first public appearance of these astronauts since they returned from orbit.
Expedition 68 consisted of seven team members from different agencies around the globe including, Commander Sergey Prokopyev and flight engineers Dmitri Petelin, Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata, and Anna Kikina. The astronauts originally launched to the ISS in September of last year and their mission ended in March of this year.
The astronauts were supposed to conduct research focused on biology, Earth science, human research, physical science, and technology development laying the groundwork for future missions.
Frank Rubio broke the record this year for the longest single spaceflight when his 180-day mission was extended because his return craft was deemed unsafe for use, stranding him and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. Rubio spent a record-breaking 371 days in space, beating the previous record (355 days) for the longest single spaceflight by an American held by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
Rubio and the two cosmonauts finally left the ISS on September 27, safely returning to Earth, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
According to NASA, astronaut Peggy Whitson holds the record for the most cumulative days in space with 655 days, resulting from three separate missions.
Astronauts Mann, Cassada, and Rubio will be appearing at the public event to discuss the highlights of their mission. They will be joined by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Wakata. There will also be an awards ceremony recognizing key contributors to the mission’s success.
Expedition 68 undertook a number of spacewalks and operations, beginning in November 2022 with the team’s first spacewalk by Cassada and Rubio and ending with their last recorded spacewalk in February of this year by Mann and Wakata. Crew-5 consisting of Mann, Cassada, and Wakata as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina spent a total of 157 days in space, completing 2,512 orbits and traveling a total of 66,577,531 miles, according to NASA.
The free public event will take place at 6:15 p.m. CT.