5 months ago
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(NewsNation) — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, arsenic good arsenic 2 different NASA astronauts, person near the International Space Station aft being stuck for 9 months aft a Boeing trial flight.
The instrumentality travel volition instrumentality astir 17 hours, and the unit plans connected landing successful the splashdown portion successful Florida if upwind allows.
Wilmore and Williams person been successful abstraction since June 2024, truthful returning to Earth volition instrumentality a toll connected the astronauts' bodies.
What happens to a human's muscles and bones successful space?
An astronaut's musculus and bony wide tin diminish owed to the deficiency of gravity successful space. According to the BBC, the muscles that assistance support posture are affected the astir due to the fact that the muscles don't person to enactment arsenic hard successful space. The Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that musculus wide tin autumn by astir 20% successful 2 weeks and by 30% connected three-to-six-month missions.
Astronauts' skeletons tin besides beryllium affected without Earth's gravity. Bones tin commencement to demineralize and suffer their strength, according to the BBC. For each period an astronaut is successful space, they tin suffer 1% to 2% of their bony mass. This tin marque it much apt for astronauts to person bony fractures and it tin instrumentality longer for injuries to heal.
This representation made from video shows astronauts, including Suni Williams, center, greeting each different aft a SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station connected March 16. (NASA via AP)
NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore basal unneurotic for a photograph enroute to the motorboat pad astatine Space Launch Complex 41 connected June 5, 2024, successful Cape Canaveral, Fla., for their liftoff connected the Boeing Starliner capsule to the planetary abstraction station. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
In this photograph provided by NASA, astronaut Suni Williams tries connected and evaluates her spacesuit aboard the International Space Station connected Jan. 9, 2025. (NASA via AP)
Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams airs for a representation wrong the vestibule betwixt the guardant larboard connected the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft connected June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP, File)
FILE - This representation made from a NASA unrecorded watercourse shows NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore during a property league from the International Space Station connected Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (NASA via AP, File)
The BBC reported that it tin instrumentality up to 4 years for the bony wide to instrumentality to mean aft an astronaut returns to Earth.
To assistance with this, astronauts volition bash 2.5 hours of workout per time and grooming portion connected the ISS. That grooming and workout tin see squats, deadlifts, and enactment and seat presses. According to the BBC, astronauts besides instrumentality fare supplements to support their bones healthy. However, 1 survey showed that this grooming and workout wasn't capable to forestall each losses successful musculus relation and size.
Do humans suffer value successful space?
It is really rather the opposite. Since quality bodies interval astir successful space, keeping a steadfast value tin beryllium challenging. According to NASA, to assistance combat this, the bureau ensures astronauts person entree to galore nutritious foods.
Scott Kelly, a NASA astronaut who was onboard the ISS for 340 days, mislaid 7% of his assemblage wide portion successful space, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
How is simply a human's eyesight affected by abstraction travel?
According to NASA, successful space, humor tin accumulate successful the caput much than normal. This tin origin immoderate fluids to excavation astatine the backmost of the oculus and near the optic nerve. This tin origin imaginativeness changes, similar decreased sharpness and structural changes.
This tin hap aft lone 2 weeks successful space, and the hazard increases arsenic clip goes on. Some of these changes volition reverse, but others volition beryllium permanent, according to NASA.
Galactic cosmic rays and energetic star particles could besides origin problems with an astronaut's eyes. On Earth, we are protected, but successful space, cosmic rays and star particles tin deed an astronaut's retina and optical nerves.
How does a human's tegument respond to being successful space?
An astronaut's tegument tin besides beryllium affected by prolonged abstraction travel. According to Kelly, his tegument was much delicate and helium developed a rash astir six days aft returning from space. The BBC reported that researchers person speculated this could beryllium owed to the deficiency of tegument stimulation during abstraction missions.
Once the Starliner astronauts instrumentality home, they volition committee a NASA pitchy to the Johnson Space Center successful Houston wherever their families volition beryllium waiting. Medical teams volition besides beryllium disposable to assistance the crew, arsenic astronauts often acquisition musculus weakness successful their archetypal days backmost to Earth aft extended periods successful space.
