“Shocking Confessions from a Stranded NASA Astronaut: The Dark Side of Space Travel Revealed!”
Ever wondered what it’s really like to float around in space for too long? Well, two NASA astronauts, Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, are experiencing quite the unusual adventure. What was originally intended to be an eight-day mission aboard the International Space Station turned into a prolonged stay—their little getaway has stretched all the way back to June 2024! Imagine the cosmic headache: no solid ground, no cozy couch, and trying to remember what walking feels like. Yes, folks, Suni has admitted that she’s been so long in zero gravity that she’s struggling to recall how to strut her stuff on Earth! Medical experts are raising alarms regarding their health, grappling with the effects of extended exposure to space—and it sounds rather alarming. The astronauts face not only adjustment back to gravity but also potential long-term health risks. So, what do you think? Can you envisage returning home after such a wild ride? Well, sit tight as we delve into their resilient journey and the implications of their celestial experiment! LEARN MORE.
One of the NASA astronauts currently stranded in space has spoken about the impact being away from our planet for so long has had on their body, while doctors have got some concerns over the pair.
Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams were only supposed to be on board the International Space Station for eight days but they have been away from Planet Earth since June 2024.
Technical issues with the spacecraft they were supposed to make their return trip on were discovered and it was decided they should not come back on it.
Now, thankfully, it won’t be long before they’re set to get back onto solid ground and feel gravity once more as a new crew is headed up to the International Space Station and they’ll be going home with the crew that gets rotated out.
However, they’re feeling the effects of being in space for so long and it sounds quite concerning.
They’ll be coming back soon, but it’ll be a while before they’re used to being back down to Earth (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Suni Williams explained that she’s been in space for so long that that she’s found remembering how to walk difficult since she’s been in a zero-gravity environment for so long.
“I’ve been up here long enough right now I’ve been trying to remember what it’s like to walk,” she said when answering questions from students at her old school.
“I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down. You don’t have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here.”
Being in space for so long will require a period of rehabilitation for the astronauts as they get used to returning to life with 10 Newtons of gravity.
Pulmonologist and Air Force veteran Dr Vinay Gupta told the Daily Mail that for Butch and Suni this rehabilitation will have to last at least six weeks so they can regain their strength and return to a diet fit for an Earthling.
Suni Williams has said it’s hard to remember how to walk (NASA)
He explained that the human body ‘needs the Earth’s gravitational pull’, and without it ‘a lot of things are not functioning correctly’.
However, the doc also raised concerns over what else being in space for so long can do to the human body as he warned that being in space for so long might have exposed them to enough radiation to increase their risk of cancer.
Dr Gupta said that if he was the astronauts’ doctor he would ‘think about a more proactive strategy for cancer screening’.
NASA has previously done an experiment where they had identical twin astronauts and sent one into space for a year to measure the change it had on the human body.
The twin who went into space suffered some damage to his DNA, which researchers put down to radiation exposure in space, though fortunately most (but not all) of the damage was repaired six months after he was back.
Featured Image Credit: NASA
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