Kathleen Rubins

Kathleen Hallisey "Kate" Rubins (born October 14, 1978) is an American microbiologist and NASA astronaut.[1] She became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on July 7, 2016.[2] She returned to Earth on October 30, 2016, aboard a Soyuz.[3] She was a crew member of Expedition 48/49, and is a crew member of Expedition 63/64 of the International Space Station.[3][4]

Kathleen Rubins
Born (1978-10-14) October 14, 1978
Farmington, Connecticut, U.S.
StatusActive
NationalityAmerican
OccupationMicrobiologist
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Time in space
Currently in space
Selection2009 NASA Group 20
Total EVAs
2
Total EVA time
12 hours 46 minutes
MissionsSoyuz MS-01 (Expedition 48/49) Soyuz MS-17 (Expedition 63/64)
Mission insignia

Personal life and education

Rubins was born in Farmington, Connecticut, and raised in Napa, California, graduating from Vintage High School. She did chores around the house to help fund a trip to Space Camp in seventh grade.[5] Her father, Jim, still resides in Napa. Her mother, Ann Hallisey, lives in Davis, California.[6]

Rubins resides in Friendswood, Texas.[7][8]

She received a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. degree in cancer biology from Stanford University Medical School Biochemistry Department and Microbiology and Immunology Department. She was a member of the Kappa Lambda chapter of the Chi Omega sorority while attending UC San Diego.

Microbiology research

Rubins conducted her undergraduate research on HIV-1 integration in the Infectious Diseases Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She analyzed the mechanism of HIV integration, including several studies of HIV-1 Integrase inhibitors and genome-wide analyses of HIV integration patterns into host genomic DNA. She obtained her Ph.D. from Stanford University and, with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rubins (who was responsible for building its underlying microarray) and colleagues developed the first model of smallpox infection. She also developed a complete map of the poxvirus transcriptome and studied virus-host interactions using both in-vitro and animal model systems.

Rubins accepted a Fellow/Principal Investigator position at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (MIT/Cambridge, Massachusetts) and headed a lab of researchers studying viral diseases that primarily affect Central and West Africa. Work in the Rubins Lab focused on poxviruses and host-pathogen interaction as well as viral mechanisms for regulating host cell mRNA transcription, translation and decay.[9] In addition, she conducted research on transcriptome and genome sequencing of Ebolavirus, Marburgvirus, and Lassa virus, and collaborative projects with the U.S. Army to develop therapies for Ebola and Lassa.

NASA Career
Rubins aboard the ISS with the USB MinION sequencer (lower right) that was used in the first DNA sequencing in space, August 2016.
One of Rubins' spacewalks, 2016

Rubins was selected in July 2009 as one of 14 members of NASA Astronaut Group 20. She graduated from Astronaut Candidate Training, where her training included International Space Station (ISS) systems, Extravehicular Activity (EVA), robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training and water and wilderness survival training.

She became the 60th woman in space when she launched on Soyuz MS-01 in July 2016.[10][11][12][13]

Expedition 48/49

Rubins left Earth for the first time on July 7, 2016, on board the new Soyuz MS spacecraft alongside Russian cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi.[14]

In August 2016, Rubins became the first person to sequence DNA in space.[15] Aboard the ISS, she used a hand-held, USB-powered DNA sequencer called the MinION made by Oxford Nanopore Technologies to determine the DNA sequences of mouse, E. coli bacteria, and lambda phage virus.[16][17] It was a part of the Biomolecule Sequencer experiment, the goal of which was "to provide evidence that DNA sequencing in space is possible, which holds the potential to enable the identification of microorganisms, monitor changes in microbes and humans in response to spaceflight, and possibly aid in the detection of DNA-based life elsewhere in the universe."[18]

During her first stay in space, she also spent 12 hours and 46 minutes outside the station on two separate spacewalks.[19] She made these two spacewalks with veteran spacewalker Jeffrey Williams.[20]

Rubins returned to Earth on October 30, 2016, after 115 days in space.[6]

Expedition 63/64
Rubins pictured next to the ISS “voting booth”, where she cast her vote for the 2020 US Presidential election

Rubins launched on her second mission on October 14, 2020, (her 42nd birthday) with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov aboard Soyuz MS-17.[21] Her return to Earth is scheduled for April 2021, following the launch of Soyuz MS-18.

Rubins was on the ISS at the time of the 2020 United States elections and cast her absentee ballot from the station.[22]

Rubins is expected to be the last American astronaut launched to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz rocket and spacecraft as all future American astronaut trips to the station are slated to use American hardware launched from American soil as part of NASA's Commercial Crew program.[23]

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. NASA HQ (June 29, 2009). "NASA Selects New Astronauts for Future Space Exploration". NASA. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  2. "Station-Bound NASA Astronaut is the 60th Woman to Fly into Space". SPACE.com. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  3. Cofield, Calla (October 30, 2016). "Soyuz Space Capsule Lands Safely with Crew of 3". Space.com. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  4. Whiting, Melanie (21 February 2016). "Kathleen "Kate" Rubins (PH.D.) NASA Astronaut". Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  5. "Meet the Tremendous 12! Space Camp's Astronaut Alumni". Space Camp. U.S. Space & Rocket Center. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  6. "Kathleen Rubins(Ph.D.) NASA Astronaut" (PDF). June 2020.
  7. "NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins Ready for First Trip to Space". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  9. "Vaccinia Virus Infection & Temporal Analysis of Virus Gene Expression". JoVE. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
  10. "NASA Biographical Data - Kathleen (Kate) Rubins (Ph.D.)". NASA. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
  11. "NASA - In Their Own Words: Kathleen (Kate) Rubins". NASA. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
  12. Garcia, Mark. "Future Expeditions". NASA. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  13. Yune, Howard (2016-06-01). "Napa-raised astronaut ready for launch to space station". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
  14. "Spacefacts Soyuz MS".
  15. Robbins, Gary (August 29, 2016). "UCSD alumna first to sequence DNA in space". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  16. Gaskill, Melissa (August 29, 2016). "First DNA Sequencing in Space a Game Changer". NASA. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  17. Dance, Amber (October 19, 2016). "DNA Sequencing in the Final Frontier". BioTechniques. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  18. Dunn, Andrea (September 29, 2015). "Sequencing DNA in the Palm of Your Hand". NASA. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  19. "Kathleen "Kate" Rubins (PH.D.) NASA Astronaut". NASA. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  20. "Kate Rubins EVA Spacefacts".
  21. "Press Release: NASA Assigns Astronaut Kate Rubins to Expedition 63/64 Space Station Crew". NASA. NASA. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  22. Baird, Daniel (2020-10-28). "How NASA Transmits Votes From the Space Station". NASA. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  23. News, NBC Evening, Lester Holt reporting. NBC News. Broadcast 2020-10-14.
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