Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center episode 262, learning to fly.

I'm Dan Hewitt, and I'll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, and astronauts, all to let you know what's going on in the world of human spaceflight.

And for this episode, we've got a special treat we talked to Dr. Frank Rubio while he was on board the International Space Station.

Frank was selected by NASA's National Candidate in 2017. Before that, he was a U.S. Army Major, a helicopter pilot, a flight surgeon, now obviously an NASA astronaut, and he launched recently on a Soyuz and is currently on his very first mission on board the International Space Station.

He calls Florida his original home and graduated from Miami Sunset High School in Miami, Florida, and then he went on to attend the U.S. Military Academy in New York, where he received a degree in International Business, and was a member of the West Point Parachute Team.

He spent eight years as an Army Aviator after college, logging more than 1100 hours as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot.

Frank then went on to medical school where he earned a doctorate of medicine from the Uniform Services University of the Health Sciences in 2010, and is a certified family physician and flight surgeon.

He flew on board the Soyuz MS-22 mission to the International Space Station, and was the first NASA astronaut to ride on a Soyuz since Mark Vandahai's return in March of 2022.

This was the first flight in Frank's Space Flight career, and we got him just two weeks after he launched, so he was able to take us behind the scenes of what it's like to be an astronaut and wake up on the day knowing you're going to climb on board a rocket and head into space.

We just talked to us about what it's like to be inside that rocket, those first moments flying in microgravity, even what it's like to learn how to sleep when you're floating around on board the Space Station.

So with no further delay, let's jump right in to our talk with NASA astronaut, Dr. Frank Rubio. Enjoy.

Hey, station. This is Daniel with Houston. We have a podcast. How do you hear me? Hey, Daniel, I hear you loud and clear. How do you hear me?

I got you loud and clear now. Frank, thank you so much for checking in with us. You know, normally we snag you guys before you fly, but this is a real treat because if anything never gets old, it's talking to people in space.

So I mean, just jumping right in. How have the first two weeks gone? How are you settling in there?

You know, it's been fantastic. There's so many highlights. Probably the number one thing is coming up here and seeing some of my closest friends up here, two of my classmates.

And you know, just they're not just familiar faces, but having friends greet you at the door when you're coming up for such a momentous event.

It's been really special. And then the other highlight is just the views, right? You look out the couple of window and seeing the earth from this perspective is just spectacular.

Never gets old. I feel like a little kid every time I go in there and I look out the window, probably not the most efficient way to get work out of me, but it's sure is special to look out that window.

Copy that. Shut the couple of windows when Frank's behind his schedule.

I mean, I wanted to I wanted to kind of dig in because you just did something that's still very few humans throughout history, I've ever done you climbed on top of a rocket and launched into space.

So if we can start back just and it's fresh for you, you've only been there for about two weeks now. So if you can take us back to launch day, I mean, waking up, what is it like to wake up and know that can you even sleep the night before?

And it's got to be it's got to be like a kid before Christmas times 100.

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