Who are Frank Rubio's parents? Ethnicity explored as NASA astronaut returns to Earth after record-breaking 371-day mission 

Frank Rubio, the NASA astronaut and US Army lieutenant colonel, has returned safely to Earth after spending 371 days in space. On September 27, 2023, Rubio and his two Russian colleagues, cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin landed in Kazakhstan aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-23 capsule at 5:17 pm local time (7:17 am ET).

Rubio was born in Los Angeles, California, and has Salvadorian parents. El Salvador is a country in the Central America region of North America, where the majority of people speak Spanish, as per Reuters.

The NASA astronaut spent the first six years of his life there and his mother Myrna Argueta currently lives in El Salvador. There is not much known about Frank Rubio's father at the time of writing.

---

Inside Frank Rubio's early life as astronaut returns home after 371 days

The American flight surgeon and NASA astronaut, Frank Rubio, returned to the USA on September 28, 2023. The duration of 371 days from his departure to the International Space Station (ISS) to his return to Earth marks the end of the longest single spaceflight by an American to date.

The extension of time was unexpected as his and his crewmates' original ride got damaged by space debris and lost its cooling system. Instead, they traveled in a Russian Soyuz MS-23 capsule and landed in Kazakhstan on September 27, as per CNN.

The astronaut was greeted by American patriots along with his friends and family after he returned to the USA.

Frank Rubio and his wife Deborah Rubio have four children together.

He was born in Los Angeles, California, on December 11, 1975, however, he lived in El Salvador with his parents until he was six years old, as per NASA. Frank Rubio's ethnicity is Salvadorian but he was born in America and has lived the majority of his life in the States.

Rubio's parents then moved to Miami and he began his education in Miami Sunset Senior High School, as per Reuters. In 1998, he got a bachelor's degree in international relations after attending the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.

The astronaut has earned a lot of honors and awards in his life combined with his space expedition. Frank has earned the Senior US Army Aviator, Pathfinder, Air Assault, and Parachutist badges, as per NASA.

He also served as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot and flew more than 1,100 hours before joining the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and earning a doctorate of Medicine in 2010.

---

The changes in Frank's body after spending a little over a year in space

Frank Rubio orbited Earth for a total of 5693 times and traveled about 157.4 million miles (253.3 million km) because of the extra months he spent at the International Space Station.

Frank would become the first astronaut to participate in a study designed to examine how exercising with limited gym equipment can affect the human body, as per BBC.

The extended trip can help provide valuable insights into how the body copes in space and if there are any complications it can provide solutions on how to counteract the problems.

In space, there is microgravity and the astronaut's back, neck, calves, and quadriceps no longer need to work as hard and begin to atrophy.

The muscle mass in the body of astronauts can fall by as much as 20% in only two weeks and on missions that are longer than three months, it can fall by 30%, as per NASA.

---

Frank Rubio has safely returned to his family in Miami, Florida.