NASA Astronauten Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally returned from nine debilitating months at the International Space Station (ISS) – but their most difficult journey may still be ahead.
People who have spent time in space, including the very first astronaut Dr. Helen Sharman, have reported that they have experienced a phenomenon that, according to them, their lives are changing forever.
Although the complex physical health problems that astronauts can experience when they re -enter the atmosphere of the earth are well documented, the impact that their adventures in space have on the rest of their lives are reported much less broadly.
Known as a 'overview effect', it is a term devised in the late 80s, but known about since the first years of space travel to describe how astronauts return to Earth are often unable to view their daily life in the same way as before.
Those who have experienced it are some of the most famous names in space history, including Yuri Gagarin, Michael Collins and Sally Ride – and say that only fellow astronauts can really know what it feels like.
Dr. Sharman, who was 27 when she wrote history on 18 May 1991 as the first British astronaut who entered the space, as part of the Soyuz TM-12 mission, says her own short eight-day mission fully 'reset' how she saw her home life.
The Imperial College London Academic told MailOnline: 'After I returned to Earth, I realized that what I hadn't even thought of in space were the material things I owned or wanted to possess.
'It was my family, friends and colleagues who lived in places I could see while I looked at earth that I remembered. In the room my life priorities are reset, and that has stayed with me since then. '
Hard journey still ahead: NASA Astronaut Suni Williams is helped from a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft when she arrives on earth after nine months on March 19
William's colleague – Astronaut Butch Wilmore (photo) had physical symptoms during his exile in space – but the 'overview effect', which recurring astronauts struggle with mental health in space, can now come into effect
The term 'overview effect' was first conceived in the late 80s and describes how earth-returers often apply great life changes after they struggled to adjust their normal life again. (Depicted Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore depicted for their return stranded at the international space station)
The Canadian astronaut Robert 'Bob' Thirsk now regularly talks about the enormous impact that his two stints in space, in 1996 and 2009, have had what he appreciates in life in the Kennedy Space Center visitor in Florida.
The retired astronaut says that he no longer takes care of politics, especially at the local level, because it feels insignificant when you have seen the earth so far away.
The 71-year-old says that his wife still tells him that his head “is still in space” because of the big impact that the trips have had on him.
Family and friends can feel alienated, he says, through the extraordinary shared experiences that astronauts have with their colleague room -discovering travelers and have the feeling that they can never match what they have experienced together.
He also says that the 'overview effect' has made him enormously concerned about the planet, and that his main report now saves it for future generations.
Dr. Sharman says that looking back on our planet can evoke different and complex feelings from so far away when people return home.
She says: 'For some, seeing the clear earth can increase our consciousness of the vulnerability of the earth against the background of the enormous vastness of black space; For others it is more a sense of attachment – after all, the earth is where all famous life exists.
“I remember how clearly interconnected everything seemed: plankton in ocean currents, flashes of lightning those flashes of other flashes seem to cause many kilometers away, and rivers that cross countless boundaries before they shoot in the sea.”
Suni Williams with her husband Michael for her journey to ISS – Returning to earth can cause life changes, says Great -Britain's first astronaut Dr. Helen Sharman
The Canadian astronaut Robert 'Bob' Thirsk now regularly talks about the impact that his two stints have had in space on his life in the Kennedy Space Center visitor in Florida. Right: Dr. Sharman, who was 27 when she was written in history as the first British astronaut who entered the space, says she 'reset' how she saw life on her return
The Canadian Astronaut, now 71, says that his wife tells him that he left his head in space and is honest about how the shared experience with his fellow astronauts can alienate friends and family
The retired Astronaut from Sheffield also discussed the Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams process are currently in when they adapt to life on earth again.
Dr. Sharman said: 'Normal life is resumed in a controlled and soft way for astronauts, especially those who have spent many months in space.
'We see that the earth-retarders are pulled out of the spacecraft and they disappear from the audience for a while, but after the first medical and other checks there will be weeks of debriefings of some kind of debriefings, managed time with friends and family (and pets), and claimed physical exercise.
Gradually the astronauts are more self -determined. But we never forget the great view from the track. '
While Williams, 59, and Wilmore, 62, yesterday came out of their SpaceX crew members Dragon Capsule, medical teams hurried to help them to Brancards.
Months spent in low gravity cause fluid shifts in the body through which health problems can cause, ranging from 'chicken legs' to loss of vision
Sunita Williams and the rest of the ISS crew, performed Olympic events at the space station last summer, but will now be confronted for weeks of physical rehabilitation
This is a normal procedure for astronauts that return from space, because their weakened muscles make it difficult to walk under the power of the gravity of the earth.
The couple will now undergo a few days of intensive medical checks in the Johnson Space Center of NASA in Houston, but health experts have already noticed signs of physical decline in the stranded astronauts.
And even while they were at the ISS, experts expressed their concern about the lean appearance of the couple and the apparent weight loss.
To help the astronauts overcome these long -term effects, NASA has a specialized rehabilitation program for people who return from space.
Exams start as soon as they leave the capsule before they are flown to their crews in the Johnson Space Center of NASA in Houston for a few days of routine health controls.
NASA astronauts who return long ISS missions complete a 45-day rehabilitation program that requires that they exercise two hours a day, seven days a week.
The program is tailored to the specific needs of each astronaut, according to NASA.
