Two US astronauts Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams before boarding the Boeing Starliner spacecraft at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US on June 5, 2024 - Photo: THX/TTXVN
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew to the orbiting laboratory last June, on a flight that was supposed to last just a few days to test Boeing's Starliner capsule on its first manned flight.
However, the ship suffered a propulsion system failure and was deemed unsafe to return them, forcing it to return to Earth unmanned.
Wilmore and Williams — two former US Navy pilots aged 62 and 59 — were then transferred to the NASA-SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The Dragon capsule flew to the ISS in September with just two crew members instead of the usual four to make room for the "stranded" pair .
On the morning of March 15, the Crew-10 replacement crew successfully docked with the ISS. The presence of Crew-10 paved the way for Wilmore and Williams to return, along with American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
If all goes well, the Dragon will deploy parachutes off the coast of Florida to land in the ocean, where a rescue ship will pick up the crew.
Astronauts Wilmore and Williams' stay exceeded the standard six-month rotation on the ISS, but ranked sixth among U.S. records for the duration of a single mission.
Previously, astronaut Frank Rubio held the number one spot with 371 days in 2023, while the world record belonged to Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 consecutive days on the Mir station.
In terms of health risks, it's "normal," says Dr. Rihana Bokhari of the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor University. Challenges like muscle and bone loss, changes in body fluids, and re-acclimatization to gravity are all well understood and well managed.
However, the unexpected nature of the extended stay – away from family and initially without adequate supplies – attracted public concern and sympathy.
“If you went to work and suddenly had to stay in the office for the next nine months, you would probably panic,” said Joseph Keebler, a psychologist at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “These people have shown extraordinary resilience.”
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/2-phi-hanh-gia-bat-dau-tro-ve-trai-dat-sau-9-thang-mac-ket-tren-iss-20250318061739936.htm
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