(WSVN) - Many children dream of traveling to space, and some got a rare chance to ask an astronaut who grew up in South Florida about his career while he was on board the International Space Station.
Frank Rubio is a NASA astronaut on board the International Space Station.
“It makes it a lot more fun and more of an interesting environment,” Frank Rubio said.
On Thursday, he was the teacher.
“Hi, my name is Malachi, and what is it like being in micro gravity?” Malachi said
“Hey, Malachi, well it’s a lot of fun, mostly because you can float around and back down easily, you can stand sideways and answer questions like this,” Rubio said.
Rubio answered questions from students associated with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Latino.
“Hi, my name is Ben, and my question is how do you not get too hot or too cold in the space suit?,” Ben said.
“It’s basically a personal spacecraft,” Rubio said. “It keeps you pressurized in the vacuum of space, it provides you with oxygen, it cleans out the carbon dioxide that you breath out, and it also keeps you comfortable.”
Rubio may be very far away, but he considers Miami home.
He graduated from Miami Sunset Senior High and is currently on track to break the record for the longest single flight mission by a U.S. astronaut.
“What are the benefits of doing medical research instead of doing them on Earth?” Fernanda asked.
“One of the things that we do is look at the way proteins develop in microgravity. Because of the lack of gravity and other forces like convection or settling, we can form really high-quality crystals, and someday we can use those crystal structures to make better medicines to help all of humanity back on Earth,” Rubio said.
Rubio also shed some light on physical fitness.
“You have to be in good shape to be selected as an astronaut, so what exercises can you do to stay in good shape while on the International Space Station?” Ford asked.
He showed the kids how they do resistance training.
“We also have a treadmill, but like I said, anytime you move up here, you tend to bounce a lot, and to keep us down on the treadmill, we use a harness and really strong bungees to keep us clipped to the frame of the treadmill,” Rubio said, “and as we run, that harness and bungee keeps us grounded, and we’re able to get a really good workout there. too.”
Rubio is the first NASA astronaut of Salvadoran heritage to fly to space.
When he comes back to Earth, Rubio will have logged 371 days in orbit.
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