NASA astronauts Butch and Suni complete recovery after extended Starliner mission
WASHINGTON, May 29: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have successfully concluded their physical rehabilitation following an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their mission, initially planned as an eight-day test flight aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule, was extended due to propulsion system issues, leading to their prolonged stay in space.
Upon returning to Earth in March, Wilmore and Williams underwent a 45-day recovery program to readjust to Earth's gravity, a standard procedure for astronauts after long-duration missions. During this period, they engaged in daily physical therapy sessions with NASA's medical team while resuming their roles in supporting Boeing's Starliner program and NASA's space station operations.
Both astronauts have reported gradual improvements in their physical well-being. Williams noted a return to her usual early morning routine, while Wilmore experienced relief from pre-flight neck and back discomfort that had resurfaced upon reentry.
The extended mission highlighted the challenges of long-duration spaceflight, including muscle atrophy and balance issues. In response to the Starliner's technical difficulties, NASA is considering conducting another uncrewed test flight before allowing crewed missions to resume.
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Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
NASA astronauts Butch and Suni complete recovery after extended Starliner mission
WASHINGTON, May 29: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have successfully concluded their physical rehabilitation following an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their mission, initially planned as an eight-day test flight aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule, was extended due to propulsion system issues, leading to their prolonged stay in space. Upon returning to Earth in March, Wilmore and Williams underwent a 45-day recovery program to readjust to Earth's gravity, a standard procedure for astronauts after long-duration missions. During this period, they engaged in daily physical therapy sessions with NASA's medical team while resuming their roles in supporting Boeing's Starliner program and NASA's space station operations. Both astronauts have reported gradual improvements in their physical well-being. Williams noted a return to her usual early morning routine, while Wilmore experienced relief from pre-flight neck and back discomfort that had resurfaced upon reentry. The extended mission highlighted the challenges of long-duration spaceflight, including muscle atrophy and balance issues. In response to the Starliner's technical difficulties, NASA is considering conducting another uncrewed test flight before allowing crewed missions to resume.
Arab Times
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NASA's Mars Perseverance snaps a selfie as a Martian dust devil blows by
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NASA's oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday
This hanodut picture courtesy of NASA shows the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 72 NASA astronaut Don Pettit, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard.--AFP photos Cake, gifts and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday. But NASA's oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling towards the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A Soyuz capsule carrying the American and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the day of Pettit's milestone birthday. 'Today at 0420 Moscow time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 landing craft with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit aboard landed near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan,' Russia's space agency Roscosmos said. Spending 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission. This hanodut picture shows Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner (center) being carried to a medical tent shortly after he, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner landed in their Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. This hanodut picture shows the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan. This hanodut picture courtesy of NASA shows Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (center) outside the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft after he landed with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit throughout his 29-year career. The trio touched down in a remote area southeast of Kazakhstan after undocking from the space station just over three hours earlier. NASA images of the landing showed the small capsule parachuting down to Earth with the sunrise as a backdrop. The astronauts gave thumbs-up gestures as rescuers carried them from the spacecraft to an inflatable medical tent. Despite looking a little worse for wear as he was pulled from the vessel, Pettit was 'doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth,' NASA said in a statement. He was then set to fly to the Kazakh city of Karaganda before boarding a NASA plane to the agency's Johnson Space Center in Texas. The astronauts spent their time on the ISS researching areas such as water sanitization technology, plant growth in various conditions and fire behavior in microgravity, NASA said. The trio's seven-month trip was just short of the nine months that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams unexpectedly spent stuck on the orbital lab after the spacecraft they were testing suffered technical issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth. Space is one of the final areas of US-Russia cooperation amid an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine conflict.—AFP
