One of the stranded astronauts of NASA has revealed that she has lost the ability to perform various basic tasks after being stranded in space for eight months.
Sunita Williams admitted this week that she has forgotten what it is like to walk after 234 days in micro -gravity.
'I have been here long enough, now I have tried to remember what it is like to walk. I didn't walk. I didn't sit down. I was not recorded, “she said during a video call with students at Needham High School in Massachusetts on Monday.
Williams, 59 and her crew, Barry Wilmore, 62, would spend eight days at the ISS when they started their mission on 5 June, but the Boeing capsule that took them was plagued by technical issues.
The capsule has since returned to the earth empty, so that the two astronauts are stuck on the ISS until at least the end of March when they can take a ride home on SpaceX's crew-9 spacecraft.
President Donald Trump said that 'the two brave astronauts' 'were almost abandoned by the Biden administration' and Elon Musk and SpaceX asked to 'go'.
'Elon will soon be on the road. Hopefully everything is safe, “said the president. “Good luck Elon !!!”
The 53-year-old billionaire promised to pick up Wilmore and Sunita Williams as quickly as possible.
Sunita Williams admitted this week that she has forgotten how to walk after 234 days in micro -gravity power
Musk said he was asked by President Donald Trump to bring Nasa's stranded astronauts home as quickly as possible
Musk's SpaceX already had the task of reducing astronauts Williams and Wilmore from the ISS prior to this new order because of the Boeing Straliner that bothered in space.
The capsule experienced helium leaks and bow thruster disturbances before, during and after the launch.
By August, NASA decided that Starliner was unsuitable to bring the astronauts home safely and announced that Williams and Wilmore would ride a ride back to the earth on SpaceX's crew-9 capsule, which is currently moored at the ISS.
NASA said earlier that Crew-9 would return home in February, but the agency changed the timeline of the mission in December.
In a statement, civil servants explained that SpaceX needed more time to complete the work on the crew-10 capsule, which must be launched at the ISS before crew-9 can leave the ISS.
For example, the return of the astronauts was pushed back to the end of March. By that time they will have spent eight months in space.
During long space emissions, micrsweerkracht takes a toll on the bodies of astronauts, which causes considerable muscle and bone removal.
For every month in space, the weight -bearing bones of astronauts are about one percent less closed if they do not take precautions to prevent this loss, according to NASA.
If Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams return at the end of March as expected, they will have spent 10 months at the ISS, which is two months longer than a standard ISS mission in the long term
President Donald Trump asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to get two astronauts who are stuck in space
And their muscles that are usually activated by simply moving on earth, also weaken because they no longer have to work so hard, says the desk.
When astronauts return from long -term space emissions, it is not uncommon that they are unable to walk under their own strength.
The recent statements by Musk and President Trump suggest that the timing of Williams and Wilmore's rescue mission could change again, so that they may come home earlier.
There are a few ways in which SpaceX could do this, according to astrophysicist and science communicator Scott Manley.
An option is to launch crew-10 earlier, so that the crew-9 capsule would also bring Williams and Wilmore home, he explained in a recent X post.
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This would require SpaceX to end the work on the spacecraft before the schedule, but the company did not say that it is on its way to do this.
Option two is to allow crew-9 to return to the earth before Crew-10 launches, Manley said.
This would comment on the NASA protocol, in which the agency should maintain a critical mass of astronauts on the ISS during the 'transfer process', or the overlap between a departing ISS crew time at the space station and the arrival of a new crew.
With this period, the departing crew (in this case Crew-9 and the Starliner crew) can share lessons that have been learned with the newly arrived crew (CREW-10) and a better transition for continuous science and maintenance in the complex, according to according to complex NASA.
The transfer process helps the operations on the ISS to run smoothly, but it is not an absolute necessity.
If NASA chooses to have the crew-9 capsule leave the ISS before Crew-10 arrives, Russian Soyuz-Astronauts would be there to receive the Crew-10 astronauts.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has sworn NASA Astronauts Wilmore and Williams to return from the ISS 'on behalf of President Donald Trump as quickly as possible
SpaceX's crew-9 capsule launched on board a Falcon 9 rocket in September. The capsule is currently moored on the ISS and ready to bring his crew Plus Williams and Wilmore home at the end of March, unless NASA and SpaceX are moving his departure upwards
There are a few ways in which SpaceX could do this, according to astrophysicist and science communicator Scott Manley.
An option is to launch crew-10 earlier, so that the crew-9 capsule would also bring Williams and Wilmore home, he explained in a recent X post.
This would require SpaceX to end the work on the spacecraft before the schedule, but the company did not say that it is on its way to do this.
Option two is to allow crew-9 to return to the earth before Crew-10 launches, Manley said.
This would comment on the NASA protocol, in which the agency should maintain a critical mass of astronauts on the ISS during the 'transfer process', or the overlap between a departing ISS crew time at the space station and the arrival of a new crew.
With this period, the departing crew (in this case Crew-9 and the Starliner crew) can share lessons that have been learned with the newly arrived crew (CREW-10) and a better transition for continuous science and maintenance in the complex, according to according to complex NASA.
The transfer process helps the operations on the ISS to run smoothly, but it is not an absolute necessity.
If NASA chooses to have the crew-9 capsule leave the ISS before Crew-10 arrives, Russian Soyuz-Astronauts would be there to receive the Crew-10 astronauts.
It is also possible that the timing of the return of the Starliner crew will not change at all.
When Musk stated that he would bring the astronauts home as soon as possible, “he might say to the current mission schedule, Manley said.
What is more, it is possible that 'Elon is trolling', he added. In other words, these statements by Musk and Trump can be exhibitions of political Showmanship that actually do not promise real changes in the timeline of the rescue mission.
SpaceX, NASA, nor the White House have made official public statements with regard to a revised return date for Williams and Wilmore.
In an e-mail statement, NASA told DailyMail.com: 'NASA and SpaceX quickly work on safely reducing the SpaceX crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore of the desk as quickly as practical, while also preparing for the launch From crew-10 to complete a transfer between expeditions. '
SpaceX and the White House did not respond immediately to the request from DailyMail.com to comment.
Despite the dramatic extended stay of the astronauts at the ISS, NASA has repeatedly stated that they were not stranded.
The agency has also emphasized that NASA astronauts always train for long missions, and that medical experts have closely followed the health of the Starliner crew while they tolerate the harsh conditions on board the ISS, including low gravity, increased exposure to radiation and radiation and The psychological stress of imprisonment.
If Williams and Wilmore return home at the end of March, as expected, their mission will have lasted two months longer than a standard long-term-iss mission, which usually lasts six months.
But they will not break the record of astronaut Frank Rubio for the longest piece of time spent on the ISS, that is 371 consecutive days.