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On Tuesday ( March 18)NASAastronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico inside aSpaceXcrew capsule , ending a more than nine - month stop in spacethat was originally slate to last just a few weeks . When their abridgment was finally opened , the spaceman were carry out of the spacecraft and load up onto stretchers .
The spaceman were not disgusted or injured ; the reason for this procedure has nothing to do with Williams and Wilmore ’s specific mission aboard theInternational Space Station(ISS ) , but is simply a matter of communications protocol that all astronauts must come , experts tell Live Science .
Sunita Williams waves after being loaded onto a stretcher in a routine safety procedure. Williams returned to Earth from the ISS with three other astronauts on March 18.
When astronauts return to Earth from outer space , they ca n’t immediately take the air upon landing . This is due to temporary changes to the body that occur in quad — a fact that NASA cover with rigorous base hit function .
" A lot of them do n’t need to be bring out on a stretcher , but they ’re told they have to be,“John DeWitt , director of applied sports science at Rice University in Texas and a former fourth-year scientist at NASA ’s Johnson Space Center , where he developed methods to improve cosmonaut wellness during spaceflight , severalize Live Science .
“Space motion sickness”
Just like someone might experience motion unwellness on a crimper coaster or while riding in a boat on jerky waters , spaceman can experience lightheadedness and nausea when they return to Earth . Primarily for this reason , cosmonaut are typically rolled out on a capstone after their landing place as a precautionary measure , DeWitt enjoin .
The temporary hotshot occurs because our trunk are project to take vantage of the unremitting force pulling us down here on Earth — gravity . However , orbital space home ground such as the ISS are in perpetual freefall toward our planet , which creates a feeling of weightlessness for the astronauts inside and prompts their trunk to adapt to the altered environment .
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Astronaut Frank Rubio is carried to the medical tent shortly after returning to Earth from a 371-day mission aboard the ISS. Rubio holds the record for the longest consecutive days spent in space by an American astronaut.
One significant change pass in the sensational vestibular system within the internal capitulum that ’s important for uphold equilibrium , DeWitt pronounce . In space , this system becomes accustomed toignoring certain sensory inputsas the brain adjusts to weightlessness . So when spaceman return to Earth and gravity is reintroduced , they start reset once again , which can temporarily get " space move sickness , " DeWitt said .
Another change astronauts experience , peculiarly those who spend long durations in space , is gradual heftiness and bone release . While walk here on Earth is normally sufficient to keep our muscle strong due to gravity , astronaut in space do n’t need to use their muscle as much . This lack of natural process causes the muscularity toweaken and shrink over prison term , leading to a condition know as sinew atrophy .
“We feel strong and ready”
To sabotage these and other spacefaring - related effects , astronauts who spend extended periods in infinite — including Williams Wilmore — conform to a exhaustive day-by-day exercise regime using a entourage of equipment on control panel the post .
" Been working out for the past nine months,“Williamstold Live Science via an e-mail to DeWitt . " We feel solid and quick to undertake Earth ’s gravity . "
Williams and Wilmore are part of the Crew-9 mission alongside NASA spaceman Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov , who all returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on March 18 . Their coming back marked the remnant of an unexpected nine - month stay for Williams and Wilmore , after the Boeing Starliner capsule they establish onencountered several issuesduring its journey to the ISS , including thruster malfunctions and leaking propulsion , which led NASA to make for the spacecraft back to Earth empty .
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Despite the blow , " They ’re in beneficial spirits and sense very confident that there ’s not move to be any major issues because of being on the space station so long from a physiological position , " DeWitt state . " They ’re getting exactly what they would have gotten had their slip been planned to be nine month . "
The effects of long - term space travel on the human body are an fighting region of research . presently , Russian Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov arrest the record for the longest consecutive time in blank having spent437 days — just over 14 months — aboard the now - defunct Mir space station in 1994 and 1995 .
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