“Spacebound Struggles: Why Doctors Are Racing Against Time to Reach Stranded Astronauts”
“I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down,” she continued.
“You don’t have to,” she added, explaining that one can simply close their eyes and float right where they are.
Image credits: NASA/Keegan Barber
Without Earth’s gravity, weight-bearing bones can lose an average of 1% to 1.5% of bone mineral density per month, according to NASA.
Shenhav Shemer, a professor of biology at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology who researches muscle loss, told Axios that the impact on Wilmore and Williams’ muscle mass would have been “completely reversible” if they only stayed for the initially-planned duration of about a week.
Williams spoke about how she hasn’t walked, sat down, or laid down while in space
Image credits: NASA/Keegan Barber
However, “there are expected to be metabolic and physiological changes that might be irreversible” with long-duration stays in space, she said.
When it comes to long space muscles, an astronaut’s muscles typically return to their pre-flight mass in about a year.
But Shemer said this can vary, based on age and physiology, and some astronauts could take up to four years.
It could take one to four years for astronauts’ muscles to return to their pre-flight mass, depending on their age and physiology
Image credits: NASA/Keegan Barber
Astronauts living in microgravity or weightlessness may also see the impact on their vision.
Vision problems can arise because the fluids in the body shift upwards in space, causing pressure on the eyes.
Image credits: NASA
DeWitt told Live Science that Wilmore and Williams are confident about readjusting to life back on Earth without any “major issues.”
He noted that they would be getting the exact treatment they would have gotten if their trip was initially planned for nine months.
“They’re in good spirits and feel very confident that there’s not going to be any major issues because of being on the space station so long from a physiological perspective,” he said.
“Their bodies probably feel like noodles,” a social media user said
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