What occurs to our bodies of stranded NASA astronauts after 9 months in area

NASA astronauts Suntia Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore have spent nine months stranded in space. As they’re finally coming back home by a rescue mission with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, we look what could happen to their bodies

NASA’s stranded astronauts are finally on their way home after being stuck in space for a gruelling nine months – but what really happens to the body in that time?

After a brutal stint in the unearthly conditions, Sunita Williams,59, and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore,62, have finally been undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Dragon spacecraft made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The lengthy rescue mission started on Friday (14 March) with the pair, who have been living in micro-gravity for three-quarters of a year, set to land back on our planet later this evening just off the coast of Florida.

It will take 17 hours for the pair to make the descent from space, but what will life look like for them once back on earth? Well, most likely very different after being exposed to such an extreme environment for so long.

Here, we take a look at some the savage health implications the hero astronauts could likely face when back home.

‘Baby feet’

One of the more unusual side effects of spending that much time in space is ‘baby feet’. This means Williams and Wilmore will not be able to walk once they get back after nine months stuck in space, a mission that was only supposed to be eight days.

They will not be paralysed and ‘baby feet’ shouldn’t be a permanent issue for the pair. However, the condition means that the astronauts will find it too painful to walk.

Sounding like something from a horror movie, Williams and Wilmore are expected to lose the ‘thick’ part of their soles – something that is developed with age, hence the term ‘baby feet’.

Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao explained that the hard tissue under their feet would have eroded. Ultimately, this will make every single step they take one of excruciating agony.

The veteran space traveller said: “You basically lose the thick part of the skin on your feet. You kind of have baby feet when you come back. The foot calluses come back very quickly.”

Cancer risk

The radiation levels aboard the ISS prove to be higher than those back on the ground. This is because it passes through the ‘Van Allen’ radiation belt, which are zones of energetic charged particles stuck within the earth’s magnetic field.

However, earth’s natural magnetic field still does offer a strong source of protection from this. NASA work to ‘shield’ their astronauts from radiation, that is one the big causes of cancer. The US space association aims to limit the increased lifetime cancer risk to within a 3% chance.

Despite this, spending long periods of time in space can increase the chance of developing cancer in life due to the amount of radiation exposure.

Astronauts are likely to be exposed to galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events, which can alter the DNA and these mutations can lead to cancer.

‘Fluid shift’

The ‘fluid shift’ is as gnarly as it sounds. When the body is in microgravity for a period of time, the bodily fluids start to move towards the head.

This redistribution can cause a whole list of nasty effects for the body, anywhere from the squeamish to outright shocking. One implication of a ‘fluid shift’ is the increase of calcium levels.

Although that doesn’t sound too severe, this can likely cause kidney stones – which are hard masses that ultimately pass through when you wee. This can cause extreme pain and blood in your urine.

If that doesn’t sound awful enough, the astronauts could have to face blindness to some degree thanks to the fluid shift.

The redistribution of the fluids now travelling towards the head can cause intercranial pressure, which can change the shape of the eyeball and lead to condition called spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).

This can cause mild-moderate visual impairment – and permanently so.

Bone and muscle deterioration

Believe it or not, gravity is a necessary tool to your workout on earth. However, as we all know, space is lacking the gravity we have here – now that would put a spanner in the works for leg day.

Living in a microgravity environment raises issues on how to keep muscles operating as per usual – we simply use them by just moving. But, with very little room and the lack of gravity going against them, astronauts find that they lose muscle and bone density while in space.

This can cause something called ‘atrophy’ – where the body part essentially ‘wastes away’. As astronauts aren’t using their muscles, and therefore bones, us usual then they can experience weakness – leading to the ease of fractures and other muscular conditions.

According to NASA: “For every month in space, astronauts’ weight-bearing bones become roughly 1% less dense if they don’t take precautions to counter this loss.”

Aboard the ISS, Williams and Wilmore would have had access to three machines that attempt to counteract developing atrophy. These are supposed to mimic free weights by using vacuum tubes and flywheel cables.

Accompanied with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Aleksandr Gorbunov, the stranded astronauts are expected to land off of the coast of Florida, US at 5.57pm ET (9.57pm GMT) this evening