Will Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore return as normal human?
As the world waits to welcome Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore back to Earth after a long, very long, stay in space of more than nine months, concerns are also raised whether the two will return as normal human beings
Washington: Stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have finally docked off the International Space Station (ISS) and now on their way to Earth.
Their return journey commenced on March 18, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, alongside fellow astronauts Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, according to NASA.
The American space agency also said the stranded astronauts will set their foot on Earth Wednesday March 19, 2025 morning.
Health Concerns
As the world waits to welcome Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore back to Earth after a long, very long, stay in space of more than nine months, concerns are also raised whether the two will return as normal human beings.
According to health experts, the Suni Williams and Barry Butch will be returning to Earth with a number of health issues including baby foot, bone density loss and more.
The "baby feet" is the condition wherein the soles of an astronaut's feet become soft like a baby's after spending months in space, making it painful for them to walk.
Apart from baby feet, the lack of gravity causes significant and often irreparable, bone density loss. For every month in space, astronauts’ weight-bearing bones become roughly 1% less dense if they don’t take precautions to counter this loss.
Muscles, usually activated by simply moving around on Earth, also weaken because they no longer need to work as hard. This loss of bone and muscle is called atrophy, according to NASA.
Other pressing concern is their potential increased risk of cancer due to radiation exposure in space. The extended stay of Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore in space have exposed them to unique and extreme conditions, including microgravity, radiation, and psychological stress, all of which can have lasting effects on the human body.
Radiation exposure is also a well-documented carcinogenic factor, capable of causing DNA damage and genetic mutations that may increase the risk of developing cancer.
SpaceX’s Crew-10 Mission
Earlier, SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, March 16, to bring home the two stranded NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.
The space capsule, launched on Friday from Texas, arrived at the ISS at 12:05 am EST (9:35 am IST) Sunday.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule took about 28.5 hours to travel from Earth to the ISS. The spacecraft carried four astronauts — Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers from NASA, Takuya Onishi from Japan’s JAXA, and Kirill Peskov from Russia’s Roscosmos.
The Moment Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore met SpaceX Crew 10 upon their arrival on International Space Station Sunday#SunitaWilliams #barryWilmore #NASA pic.twitter.com/bSL8jxkKsP
— ummid.com (@ummid) March 18, 2025
The SpaceX Crew-10 members joined the station's Expedition 72 crew after the hatch opened at 12:35 am ET on Sunday beginning a long-duration space research mission.
A video released by NASA shows Butch Wilmore swung open the space station's hatch and then rang the ship's bell as the newly arrived astronauts floated in one by one and were greeted with hugs and handshakes. Sunita Williams smiled as she snapped photos of her crewmates during the docking.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore had embarked to space onboard Starliner spacecraft on June 05, 2024. As per the original schedule, their return journey to Earth was on June 14, 2024. They however got stuck in the space due to some technical reasons, completing six-month stay in space in December last, and around nine months now.
Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Post Comments