NASA astronauts who returned to Earth after spending nine months in space now face a hellish journey to readjust to life with gravity.
Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams returned home in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft alongside two rescue mission astronauts last night when the capsule landed off the Florida coast.
Sunita Williams was escorted out of the capsule after the 286-day mission[/caption]
Butch Wilmore was helped out of the capsule after landing in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida[/caption]
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were stranded in space for over nine months[/caption]
The capsule, named Freedom, dramatically splashed down in the sea near Tallahassee, Florida – as dolphins majestically swam around the floating spacecraft.
It ended an unexpectedly long mission which started in June 2024 and lasted 286 days.
But they now face a long journey to recover from what doctors say are “chicken legs and baby feet”.
Experts say both Williams and Wilmore will be unable to walk on their own for a long time because of living in low gravity for nine months.
Their bodies may have also changed significantly due to the out-of-the-world living conditions.
And because human bodies are mostly liquid, they may have developed conditions like “chicken legs” and “baby feet”.
The crew will begin their rehabilitation program, which could last up to 45 days.
It is understood the first phase will focus on walking, flexibility and muscle strengthening.
Tense footage also showed the capsule flying down at incredibly high speeds before parachutes were suddenly deployed.
The spaceship reached a temperature of nearly 2,000C when it re-entered the atmosphere.
As the capsule flew down, it dramatically slowed down from more than 17,000mph to completely stationary within just minutes.
When it landed, the astronauts were greeted from the control centre: “Nick, Alec, Butch, Suni – on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.”
Nasa spokesperson Jaden Jennings said that the “splashdown was spectacular”, and that they had “optimal conditions” for the returning mission to Earth.
She added: “A new core memory was made today.”
After the successful landing, recovery teams arrived in “fast boats” to complete safety checks and retrieve the parachutes.
A SpaceX recovery vessel then made its way to the craft, picked it up and opened the spaceship to allow the crew out for their first breath of fresh air.
In a tense moment just before the landing, the capsule lost all communications with the command centre for several minutes.
This phenomenon is usual, as during the capsule’s re-entry into the atmosphere plasma builds up around the shield and it gets extremely hot.
Communications returned several minutes later as usual once the capsule had entered the atmosphere.
Wilmore and Williams’ 286-day stay exceeds the usual six-month ISS rotation but ranks only sixth among US records for single-mission duration.
Frank Rubio holds the top spot at 371 days in 2023, while the world record remains with Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent a whopping 437 consecutive days aboard the Mir station.
