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Times of Oman
18-03-2025
- Science
- Times of Oman
Stranded astronauts: How space affects the body
Florida: Much was made of the potential health risks that stranded NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams would face in space. Returning to Earth in March 2025, after an unexpected nine months at the International Space Station (ISS), their bodies will have adjusted to radiation and microgravity. The effects of radiation and microgravity are the same for every astronaut — starting with nausea and bloated faces — but this mission was only meant to last a week. It begged the question: Would the effects be worse for Suni and Butch? Williams and Wilmore were stranded at the ISS in June 2024 their Boeing Starliner spacecraft experienced technical problems on the way there, and it was deemed too dangerous to send them back in the same vehicle Both are experienced astronauts, having spent hundreds of days in space prior to their mission from 2024-2025 They will have been prepared and trained for a worst-case scenario, especially since the Starliner launch was a test mission What it takes to be an astronaut Humans haven't evolved to live in space — that is, in an environment unprotected by Earth's atmosphere, in near or zero-gravity — so those who travel to space need highly specialized training and careful health monitoring both before, during and afterward. Astronauts selected for human spaceflight are considered capable of not only undertaking their assigned missions but also of managing complicated and changing situations. Wilmore and Williams flew as test pilots for the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the ISS. But propulsion issues with their spacecraft meant their eight-day mission had to be extended. They joined a regular crew, known as SpaceX Crew 9. Soon after they were stranded, retired German astronaut Thomas Reiter said he thought it would be "quite a burden" but that "they can handle it." Reiter served two missions in space, first on Mir, a Soviet-era space station which de-orbited in 2001, and later as a flight engineer on the ISS. Williams replaced Reiter on her first spaceflight. "Both of them are not inexperienced, they are familiar with the operations on board [the ISS]," said Reiter. Radiation: One of the biggest risks of space travel Space agencies devote entire departments to study the effects of space on the human body — the German Space Agency (DLR), for instance, runs its lab, envihab near Cologne. In June 2024, the journal Nature published more than 40 studies described as the "largest-ever compendium of data for aerospace medicine and space biology." Among the studies was one known as TWINS. It involved 10 labs that compared astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent almost a year on the ISS in 2015, and his identical twin Mark, who is also an astronaut but had stayed on Earth. And it's that study that points to one of the major risks of prolonged periods in space — radiation. "It's going to be space radiation exposure that's going to be the big limiting factor for how well astronauts do or how long they're going to be able to actually be in space," said Susan Bailey, a radiation biologist from Colorado State University. Bailey led research in the TWINS study into the effect of radiation on telomeres, tiny genetic caps on the end of human chromosomes. "Radiation exposure really is very damaging to our DNA," said Bailey. That exposure is what increases cancer risk for astronauts. It also raises oxidative stress within the body. "That's what all of that is about: Sparing them from those really hazardous late effects and some very acute effects," Bailey said. "We have to come up with countermeasures, some way to protect the astronauts not only during spaceflight, but if they're going to be camped out on the moon or even Mars." Space agencies have specific limits on the amount of radiation that astronauts can be exposed to throughout their careers. Microgravity: From kidney stones to poor sight Microgravity in space can cause bone demineralisation — astronauts lose around 1-1.5% bone density for every month spent in space. This can also lead to changes in mineral levels in the body and result in health risks. For example, increased levels of calcium in the body's excretory system, which removes waste such as urine, can lead to kidney stones. "When they come back, they [can't] go on the dance floor, like anyone else who's been in weightlessness for many months," Reiter said. This environment can also cause changes to vision, with fluids in the body shifting to the head and putting pressure on the eyes. Prolonged pressure can lead to Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome, which can change the eye's ability to focus, sometimes permanently. Upon their return to Earth, both Williams and Wilmore will be subject to regular health monitoring. Plenty of food and water on the ISS Despite the health risks associated with travelling to space, more immediate needs are well met by the ISS. "If there are, all of a sudden, two persons more, they are not running short of water, oxygen or food immediately," Reiter said. Food, water, oxygen and carbon filtration needs are regularly serviced by resupply missions. And there are six dorms, two bathrooms, and a gymnasium — so, plenty of room for the crew to spread out. On top of this, psychological care will have been aided by integrating the long-stay astronauts into the ongoing projects at the ISS. Wilmore and Williams immediately got involved in scientific and support work with the other astronauts. "But astronauts want to be in space, they train their whole life [for it]." They may well have thought that being stranded in space was "pretty grand," Bailey said.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
After Wednesday scrub, NASA targeting Friday to bring stranded NASA astronauts home
After an issue with a ground support clamp led to a decision to scrub the Wednesday launch of SpaceX's Crew 10 mission to the International Space Station, NASA says the earliest next attempt will be Friday evening at 5:03 p.m MDT. While a potential launch window was also available Thursday evening, NASA reported that a forecast for high winds and precipitation in the Cape Canaveral area today led mission managers to waive another attempt until Friday. If all goes to plan, the Friday launch of a SpaceX Dragon capsule will mark the final countdown to the conclusion of an epic saga for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who rocketed into space over nine months ago for an expected one-week stay on the International Space Station. But a slew of technical issues with the Boeing Starliner spaceship that Wilmore and Williams flew to the station on the craft's debut crewed mission led to a decision to keep them aboard the space station as Starliner returned to Earth empty last September. Later that month, a modified SpaceX Crew 9 mission arrived at the International Space Station with two astronauts aboard and two empty seats to bring Wilmore and Williams back home. With a Friday Crew 10 launch, the Crew 9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Williams, and Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, would depart the space station no earlier than Wednesday, March 19, pending weather at the splashdown locations off the coast of Florida. NASA announced launch coverage will begin at 1 p.m. MDT on March 14. Docking is targeted for 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. Shortly after taking the oath of office in January, President Donald Trump took to social media to announce he had directed SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to 'go get' the Starliner crew members. Trump laid the blame for the astronauts' extended stay on the space station on former President Joe Biden in his post to Truth Social, a platform operated by the Trump Media and Technology Group. 'I have just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to 'go get' the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration,' Trump wrote on Truth Social in January. 'Good luck Elon!!!' Musk, who reportedly contributed some $270 million to Trump's reelection effort and has become a member of the president's inner circle following his appointment as co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency, posted a response to Trump's request on his own platform, X, formerly Twitter. 'The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible," Musk wrote. 'We will do so.' Since deciding to keep Wilmore and Williams aboard the International Space Station due to safety concerns over the troubled Starliner capsule, NASA has stated repeatedly that the astronauts, who are also both veteran Navy test pilots, are not 'stranded' and noted that every mission to the space station includes a contingency plan for longer stays. A decision to bring Wilmore and Williams home early aboard the Crew-9 ship ahead of Crew-10's arrival would have left NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who flew to the International Space Station with a Russian crew last September, as the only American aboard the station, a rare staffing imbalance that NASA has said complicates maintenance of the station's U.S. components. 'Sure, it could have taken us home, but that leaves only three people on the space station from the Soyuz crew, two Russians and one American,' Williams told CBS News in an in-flight interview. 'And, you know, the space station is big. It's a building, you know, it's the size of a football field. Things happen.' Problems with the flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule arose early on when five of 28 maneuvering thrusters failed to perform as expected during the ship's docking at the International Space Station on June 6, 2024. Engineers also identified five small helium leaks, some of which were detected before the spacecraft launched. Helium is used in the capsule's thruster firing procedure. Engineering teams spent months working to identify the underlying issues with the thrusters, critical for maneuvering and positioning the spacecraft, including reviewing massive amounts of data, conducting flight and ground testing, hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts and developing various return contingency plans, NASA reported last year. But ultimately NASA decided that ongoing uncertainty and a lack of concurrence at the time among engineers and other experts about resolving the Starliner problems 'does not meet the agency's safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight, thus prompting NASA leadership to move the astronauts to the (SpaceX Dragon) Crew-9 mission.' The Starliner capsule returned to Earth empty last Sept. 6 following a six-hour flight that did not encounter any issues. Later that month, the SpaceX Crew 9 mission docked at the International Space Station, with only two astronauts aboard and plans to fill the remaining seats in the four-passenger capsule with Williams and Wilmore for a return flight scheduled, at the time, for February 2025. On Dec. 17, NASA announced it was delaying the SpaceX Crew 10 mission launch and the expected crew handoff that would have marked the end of Williams' and Wilmore's time at the space station. NASA said the delay would push out the Crew 9-Crew 10 handoff to late March 2025.
