And now, what we have to discover is how to meniscus and how to maintain the structures of those tissues on Earth.” According to Rubio, if this type of research continues to advance, complete organs - such as a heart or a liver - could be manufactured in space within 10 or 20 years. On Earth, it couldn’t be done, because there’s too much gravity. And that’s because microgravity leaves us. “While I was there, we were able to make a piece of the meniscus… that’s incredible. It’s a little different, because the shape of the cells can be maintained a little more easily ,” he explains in Spanish from NASA, in a brief video call with EL PAÍS. “We were learning about how cells behave in microgravity and how they. One of his favorites took place in the BioFabrication Facility (BFF) - a 3D biological printer - where he participated in research evaluating the mechanical properties of a meniscus that was printed with biological cells and inks. On the ISS, the astronaut decided to focus on what he loves most: medicine. space agency and spent two years in intensive training before his first special mission. Before joining NASA, he served on missions in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Military training, Rubio explains, helped him face the psychological challenge of a prolonged stay in space.

This can also affect the immune and cardiovascular systems. As a doctor, he knew the toll that this feat would take on his body: in space, bone density is lost more quickly, due to the absence of gravity. Hence, he ended up staying on the ISS for more than a year, longer than any other NASA astronaut.

In 2022, Rubio was assigned a six-month-long mission to the ISS, but ended up stranded due to a breakdown in the cooling system of the Russian Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, on which he had to return to Earth. He’s also an accomplished parachutist, having completed more than 650 free-fall jumps. He has logged more than 1,100 flight hours as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Francisco “Frank” Rubio is a 48-year-old Los Angeles-born doctor and American soldier of Salvadoran descent. He spent a record 371 days on the International Space Station ( ISS) and - with his dedication and medical knowledge - contributed scientific research that, in a couple of decades, could provide human beings with artificial organs manufactured under conditions of weightlessness.

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