COL Frank Rubio ’98 proves once again that the sky is not the limit, as the West Point graduate and astronaut prepares to join the crew of Artemis III next year. Rubio will serve as the mission specialist and a backup for the test flight among the four-member crew (which includes sister academy graduate Andre Douglas ’08, USCGA). Their mission will undertake a series of challenging tests in Earth orbit in 2027, essential for Artemis IV, the first planned crewed mission to the lunar South Pole in 2028.
In total, the Artemis III crew is expected to remain in space for about two weeks, with exact mission duration to be determined based on launch, rendezvous, and docked operations. This time frame is quite a bit shorter than Rubio’s first spaceflight, which launched in 2022: He spent 371 days in space, becoming the first American to spend more than one calendar year in microgravity.
As a cadet, Rubio was a member of the West Point Black Knights Parachute Team. He is a Jumpmaster with over 650 freefall skydives. He served as a platoon leader in A Company, 2-82nd Aviation Regiment (“Redhawks”) and as a company commander in A Company, 2-3rd General Support Aviation Regiment (“Storm”).
After earning a Doctor of Medicine in 2010 from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, Rubio served as a clinic supervisor, an executive medicine provider, and a flight surgeon at Redstone Arsenal, AL. At the time of his selection for NASA’s 2017 astronaut candidate class, he was a battalion surgeon for the 3rd Battalion of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Rubio has served for more than 28 years in the U.S. Army as an aviator, a physician, and an astronaut.
Press Release NASA.gov, Photo NASA.gov
