“Lost in the Stars: What Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams Never Knew Happened on Earth During Their Nine-Month Space Odyssey”

After an incredible nine-month journey, NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams have finally made their way back to Earth, but not without a few unexpected twists along the way. What was intended to be a brief eight-day mission aboard the International Space Station transformed into an extended stay among the stars due to technical hiccups with their return vehicle. Can you imagine being up there, gazing down at our lovely blue planet while simultaneously dealing with spacecraft woes? It wasn’t exactly a vacation in paradise—though, let’s be honest, how often do you get a chance for such a unique experience, even if it does come with a side of space station odor? And while they were floating around above us, a lot happened back home. From political shake-ups to climatic disasters, the world has been anything but quiet. So, as these space travelers reacquaint themselves with gravity—and perhaps the smell of fresh air—let’s catch up on everything they missed during their cosmic expedition! LEARN MORE.

NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams have finally returned to Earth after being in space for a whopping nine months.

They’d gone up to the International Space Station for an eight day mission which turned into an incredibly long stint among the stars when technical issues with the spacecraft that was set to bring them home delayed their return.

A former NASA astronaut stressed that they were never actually ‘stranded’ up there and could have returned sooner if they wanted to, but stayed on board to make sure the ISS had enough crew members.

Can you blame them? While it apparently smells quite bad up on the space station, how often do you get the chance to have a prolonged stay in space?

Being in space for so long does have its downsides, as the astronauts will face a period of rehabilitation where they get used to being in the Earth’s gravity once more and come to terms with all the physical changes space has on the body.

Beyond the changes to themselves which will take some getting used to, being away from the planet for nine months means quite a lot has happened while they’ve been gone.

Now they’re back among the Earthlings after safely splashing down off the coast of Florida it’ll be time for them to get re-acquainted with current affairs.

We won’t be able to cover literally everything that happened, but we’ll try and hit some of the big moments:

Donald Trump: The sequel

Listen guys, if you want to hop back on the spaceship and leave the planet for a while again we get it (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

Being US citizens, one of the primary developments which has occurred while Wilmore and Williams have been away is Donald Trump’s election for a second term as US President.

Trump is a controversial occupant of the White House, to say the least, and the astronauts will now be living in a US that appears to be going in a dramatically different direction compared to when they blasted off last year.

While NASA’s Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox said they’d had a ‘lot of options’ to bring the astronauts back if they wanted to return and the astronauts themselves had said ‘we don’t feel abandoned, we don’t feel stuck, we don’t feel stranded’, Trump claimed that the Biden administration ‘shamefully forgot about the Astronauts’.

They may end up wishing they’d stayed in space.

Around the world

The Russian invasion of Ukraine sadly continues (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)

When Wilmore and Williams left the planet Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been going for two years, now it’s passed the three year milestone.

While the possibility of a ceasefire is being discussed, Russia does not seem intent on signing up to an unconditional ceasefire and Vladimir Putin has made a series of demands in a recent phone call with Donald Trump.

He wants an end to military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, things Trump has pulled the plug on previously, and an end to Ukraine mobilising for the war Russia inflicted upon them.

In the Middle East the situation with Israel and Gaza continues, and recently there has been a tragic new development.

While the astronauts have been away a truce was signed to stop Israeli bombardments and exchange hostages taken on 7 October, 2023 with Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

However, that truce appears to be in tatters as Israel launched a new wave of bombardments on Gaza this week (17 March), with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was ‘only the beginning’ and any further ceasefire discussions would occur ‘under fire’.

Elsewhere in the world, tensions between China and Taiwan have continued to simmer while Wilmore and Williams were away, with China continuing to hold military drills it claims are responses to statements from the US and Taiwan.

The G7 has accused China of ‘illicit, provocative, coercive and dangerous actions that seek unilaterally to alter the status quo in such a way as to risk undermining the stability of regions, including through land reclamations, and building of outposts, as well as their use for military purpose’.

In a more general sense the planet continues to slide further into the catastrophic grasp of climate change.

Other astronauts have experienced something called the ‘overview effect’ where they’ve realised just how much being in space changes their perspective, spurring them to see climate change as one of the greatest concerns facing our species.

Disasters caused by climate change across the world are already outstripping scientific predictions, which is a sobering thought.

Technological advancements

AI has made a lot of progress, whether that’s a good thing is another matter (Marc Asensio/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

While they’ll have missed the release of the new iPhone that’s an annual occurrence and you can basically set your watch by a new one coming out before long.

One of the major marches forward in technology is in artificial intelligence, which is now becoming an increasing factor in people’s lives.

The development of AI was one of the reasons why the people who operate the Doomsday Clock moved it a second closer to midnight this year.

Professor Geoffrey Hinton, who last year was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for his work in AI, warned that the pace of technological change was advancing ‘much faster than expected‘.

Developments in the technology of space travel itself have also moved forward while the astronauts have been gone.

Wilmore and Williams returned to Earth in a SpaceX craft, and SpaceX boss Elon Musk has claimed that he’s getting closer to sending a mission to Mars with a view to putting human feet upon the red planet by 2029.

There have been some bumpy steps in space development, and the astronauts might be concerned about some of the other things Elon Musk has been doing.

Depending on how into social media a 62-year-old Wilmore and 59-year-old Williams are they might have been interested in the flip-flopping on a possible TikTok ban.

Slay.

It’s the economy, spaceman

“We just got back from nine months in space, why are you so fixated on egg prices these days?” (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

NASA astronauts don’t get overtime pay so the pair that just returned to Earth can’t expect to be receiving heaps of money for the staying in space longer than expected.

They might be hoping they didn’t have lots of money invested in stocks since that market has been struggling in recent times.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump appears intent on starting a trade war with all sorts of other countries that would normally consider the US an ally.

Someone might also have to egg-splain why the price of the popular product produced by poultry is now such a big issue for some people.

Once again guys, nobody would blame you for signing up for the next trip to the International Space Station.

Missing out on all the fun

Imagine being in space and missing this (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

The crew of the International Space Station can watch TV while they’re up there, so hopefully they were able to keep up with the Paris 2024 Olympics.

While they were gone the Philadelphia Eagles dethroned the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl, and there was all the drama surrounding Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance where Serena Williams showed up to deliver a dunk on Drake so large it could be seen from space.

Wilmore and Williams also didn’t get back in time to catch the Oscars, and will have been in space long enough to miss the theatrical release of Best Picture winner Anora.

The true tragedy is that they were away in space while the cinematic masterpiece that is Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl released.

Then there’s the absolute torrent of TV shows which have released in the nine months they’ve been in space, just imagine the binge watching they’d need to do to catch up.

A lot can happen in nine months.