When Sunita Williams was in space, many things were being written on social media about her health in November last year.
Amidst these rumors, Sunita Williams herself said in an interview with New England Sports Network on November 12, “There are rumors that I am losing weight. But there is no truth in this. I am fine.”
In fact, in the first week of November, the New York Post quoted an anonymous NASA official as saying that Sunita Williams is losing weight. New York Post said that Sunita is not able to take enough calories, so she is losing weight.
In the report of the New York Post, Space Agency NASA’s Chief Health and Medical Officer Dr. James D. Polk said, “This is not correct. I have known Sunita for the last 20 years and I can say with confidence that Sunita looks the same as before. Her health is absolutely fine.”
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore went on a mission of just eight days, but due to technical problems, this mission was stuck for nine months. That is, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stayed in space for 286 days.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are both famous astronauts of NASA. According to NASA, before returning to Earth on Tuesday, they had orbited the Earth 4,500 times and were traveling at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour. Traveled 120 million miles at a speed of.
But the record for staying in space for a long time is in the name of Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov. According to the New Mexico Museum of Space History, Valery spent 437 days, 17 hours, and 38 minutes in space. During this time he orbited the Earth 7,075 times.
Valery Polyakov studied astronautical medicine at the Moscow Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. Polyakov is considered very important for the study of the effect of space on the human body.
Effect of microgravity
62-year-old Wilmore and 59-year-old Williams have said that they are happy to stay in space for a long time. Both are retired Navy captains and have vast experience of space.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore may have returned safely to Earth from space, but they will not be able to live a normal life yet. After returning from space, one has to go through a complete recovery process. Both of them were brought directly from the capsule on a stretcher and sent under medical supervision.
This is a routine process because in microgravity the muscles start weakening, the body’s balance gets disturbed and the fluids in the body start shifting.
Microgravity is a situation when a person or an object becomes weightless. Since gravity does not work in space, the astronauts become weightless.
What is the effect?
Experts say that staying in space for a long time has a direct effect on health. Staying in space for months also brings changes in the body and psychology of a person.
The biggest change comes when the astronauts are in microgravity. In this situation, the astronauts start floating inside or outside the spacecraft. That is, they are seen hanging in the air.
During this time the muscles start weakening because they are not used. You cannot even use any exercise equipment in such a situation.
NASA says that bones also start weakening. Bones support or support the weight of the body, but in space, without the gravity of the Earth, bones lose an average of one percent to 1.5 percent of mineral density every month.
Apart from this, without proper diet and exercise, the muscles of astronauts start becoming thinner in microgravity as compared to Earth. NASA also says that in microgravity, blood and cerebrospinal fluid start shifting from bottom to top. In such a situation, there is a strong possibility of change in the shape of the eyes and brain.
There is also a risk of kidney stones due to dehydration or calcium coming out of the bones. After staying in microgravity for a long time, it is very difficult to adjust to the gravity of the Earth.
In such a situation, astronauts are kept under medical supervision as soon as they come to Earth. It is a difficult test to balance the body from microgravity to gravity and behave accordingly.
For this, the challenge of walking straight, standing straight, and maintaining the balance of the body has to be faced every day.
Effect of radiation
Apart from this, the radiation of space is different from the radiation of the earth. NASA says that the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field, which is called a magnetosphere and people get protection from the harmful radiation of space.
But when a person is at a very high altitude, the risk of radiation increases. Due to staying in this condition for a long time, the risk of astronauts suffering from radiation increases. In such a situation, the risk of cancer increases, and the chances of the central nervous system getting affected increases.
According to NASA’s 2017 report, astronauts have to face an average of 80 to 160 millisieverts of radiation during their six-month stay at the International Space Station.
However, the radiation is of a different kind. One millisievert of space radiation is equal to three chest X-rays. In comparison, a person on Earth faces an average of two millisieverts of radiation every year.
NASA says that the crew for the International Space Center is selected very carefully. Their training is also such that after going into space, they can handle the mission for at least six months or more. Behavioral changes, fatigue, stress, and lack of sleep are normal while living in space.
The mission kept getting delayed
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), an American agency focused on space activities and related research, returned to Earth at 3:30 am Indian time.
The spacecraft carrying Sunita and Butch arrived in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday evening (local time).
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov. Both of them were with Crew-9 of the SpaceX Dragon capsule. When the capsule separated from the International Space Station on Tuesday morning, Nick Hague said – Crew-9 is coming back home.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore reached space on June 6 in a test flight Boeing Starliner spacecraft, but the mission kept getting delayed due to technical problems.
NASA finally decided that it was not safe for astronauts to return from this craft. After this, NASA handed over this task to SpaceX, which has been sending its crew into space since 2020. Starliner returned empty but there is still uncertainty about its future.
The mission was mired in controversy when President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk, who is also the owner of SpaceX, claimed that both astronauts would have returned earlier but were delayed due to the denial of the Biden administration. However, Wilmore and Williams said that they did not know anything about the plan to return earlier.
When technical problems arose in the Starliner, NASA considered several other possible options. NASA Assistant Administrator Ken Bowersox said in a press briefing earlier this month that sending another capsule was considered.
On Sunday, four other astronauts replaced Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in the space station. Only after their arrival could Crew-9 return. NASA keeps swapping astronauts in the space station.
