NASA’s stranded astronauts have finally returned to Earth after a nine-month stay in space, but experts say their challenges are far from over.
Footage shows the moment Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have to be carried out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on stretchers after landing.
Having spent 286 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), it could take months or years for the pair to recover.
Away from the pull of Earth’s gravity, astronauts experience physical effects similar to being bed-bound for months at a time.
This leads to severe muscle and bone mass loss, which leaves them weak and unable to walk under their own strength back on Earth.
As concerns for the pair’s health build, archive footage emerges of astronauts in the past struggling to readjust.
In 2006, NASA astronaut Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn dramatically collapsed while giving a press conference about her completed 12-day space mission.
According to NASA, such fainting spells are not unusual after returning to Earth but usually pass after a few days of recovery.
NASA Astronauts Suni Williams (pictured) and Butch Wilmore have finally returned to Earth after nine months in space. However, as footage shows them being carried out of the capsule there are concerns that their unexpected stay in space could cause long-term damage
After being weakened by an extended stay in microgravity, Butch Wilmore had to be helped onto a stretcher after exiting the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule
After splashing down off the coast of Florida at 5:57 pm ET (21:57 GMT) Tuesday, Williams and Wilmore had to be carried out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
Williams, Wilmore, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, the other members of Crew-9, were taken on stretchers for medical examinations.
Having received an initial health check, the astronauts were flown to their crew quarters at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for several more days of routine health checks.
However, the members of Crew-9 appear to be making a decent initial recovery as they get used to Earth’s gravity again.
When Williams and Wilmore landed at Johnson Space Center at 00:19 am ET (04:19 GMT) around six hours later, NASA images showed the group up and walking under their own power.
Although NASA had personnel to help all four of the astronauts balance themselves, it was clear Williams, Wilmore, Hague, and Gorbunov were all capable of standing and walking after their medical checks.
While Wilmore appeared clean-shaven after sporting a beard in space, Williams looked noticeably frail and still had an IV drip in her arm to receive fluids.
It’s not clear how long the astronauts were able to walk for, but research suggests that a full recovery may still be a long way off.
Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams was seen walking under her own power as she met NASA officials at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. However, Williams appeared to have an IV line in her wrist to provide her with fluids and had to be helped by NASA staff
Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore hugs NASA personnel after arriving in Houston following his nine-month stay at the International Space Station. His ability to walk is surprising considering the long-term impacts that spaceflight has on the body
NASA’s research has found that a lack of gravity disturbs the fluids in the inner ear which are responsible for balance, removing the feeling of being up or down.
After returning to Earth astronauts can experience dizziness and lack of balance as their inner ear adjusts to the presence of gravity.
Without gravity, other fluids in the body also redistribute towards the head, which also causes astronauts to lose about 10 per cent of the liquid in their blood vessels.
When astronauts re-enter Earth’s gravitational field, those fluids shift back to their normal position, causing low blood pressure, dizziness, and fainting.
During her 2006 press conference, this caused NASA Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper to collapse twice after her STS-115 Atlantis mission.
While speaking, Ms Stefanyshyn-Piper appeared to become confused and trailed off mid-sentence before slumping.
After other crew members helped her to recover, Ms Stefanyshyn-Piper made light of the situation, telling the crowd: ‘Boy if that’s not a little embarrassing’ – but she soon fainted again and had to be removed from the stage.
While in orbit, astronauts’ muscles don’t experience the pull of gravity like we do on Earth, and without the need to fight against this force, their muscles and bones soon start to weaken and deteriorate.
NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Aleksandr Gorbunov (pictured) were also taken to the NASA space centre following medical exams on Tuesday and were seen walking down a flight of stairs
Hague (pictured) and Gorbunov were the two pilots sent in the Crew-9 Dragon capsule to replace the faulty Starliner spacecraft that stranded Williams and Wilmore. Hague seemed able to walk with assistance from a NASA staff member
Microgravity causes a redistribution of fluids in the body which triggers low blood pressure upon return to Earth. In 2006, NASA astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper collapsed during a press conference after having spent 12 days in space
A study published last year by researchers from the University of Southampton found that astronauts lose about 20 per cent of their skeletal muscle mass in a month of spaceflight.
Critically, much of that loss is concentrated in muscles that are critical for walking and running, such as the tibalis anterior which lifts the foot towards the shin.
Even though astronauts exercise twice a day to stave off muscular deterioration, it still takes months to fully recover from time in space.
After completing their health checks, each astronaut will be placed on a bespoke 45-day rehabilitation programme.
Dr Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist and Air Force veteran, told MailOnline the astronauts are likely to need up to six weeks of rehab to get back into basic shape after living in low gravity for so long.
Phase one of a NASA astronaut’s post-mission rehabilitation plan focuses on regaining strength, flexibility and the ability to walk.
This may include gait training exercises, range of motion exercises and obstacle training.
After making some improvements during phase one the astronauts move on to phase two, which adds ‘proprioceptive’ (relating to sense of self-movement) and heart-strengthening exercises.
The bigger concern for astronauts is that a lack of gravity causes muscular and skeletal deterioration which makes walking difficult. Pictured: NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is carried after setting the record for longest spaceflight by an American
To reduce muscular deterioration, astronauts are required to exercise twice per day. Sunita Williams and the rest of the ISS crew performed Olympic events on the space station last summer. However, it is impossible to avoid all the effects of microgravity and they are inevitably weakened
Finally, phase three focuses on returning the astronaut to their optimal level of physical performance through functional development training.
However, studies have shown that the full programme is often not enough for astronauts’ muscles to fully recover.
Dr Gupta says: ‘Invariably, despite them doing all the right things (which I know they are) you’re going to see a decrease in muscle mass and strength, no question.’
In a study of an unnamed 38-year-old European Space Agency astronaut returning from six months in space, researchers found that they still had performance impairments in most areas after completing a recovery programme.
An even bigger problem for returning astronauts is the severe and long-lasting loss of bone density.
Research has shown that astronauts lose about 1-2 per cent of their bone density for every month spent in microgravity.
This increases the risk that astronauts will experience bone fractures or conditions like osteoporosis once they return to Earth.
Images of Williams walking out of the plane at Johnson Space Center this week seem to show that her wrists appeared to be unusually thin.
Astronauts must undergo a 45-day rehabilitation programme to build up their muscles after spending time in space. Pictured: NASA astronaut Raja Chari performs strengthening exercises after returning from a 177-day-long ISS mission
In a 2020 study, researchers from Canada’s University of Calgary scanned the wrists and ankles of 17 astronauts before, during, and after a stay on the ISS.
Worryingly, nine of the astronauts’ shinbones had not recovered their density a year after landing back on Earth and were still missing a decade’s worth of bone mass.
This raised serious questions about the viability of long-term space travel within the solar system.
Based on the researchers’ modelling, a third of all astronauts would be at risk of developing osteoporosis after a three-year journey to Mars.
Even after nine months in space, this could mean that Williams and Wilmore could face a long road to a full recovery.
