'Stranded' NASA astronaut Suni Williams once made a surprising request while in space that didn’t end well for her
Topics: Food and Drink, Nasa, Space, Science, Health
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: NASA
Topics: Food and Drink, Nasa, Space, Science, Health
NASA's 'stranded' astronaut Suni Williams previously made a 'dangerous food' request which didn't go to plan.
All eyes have been on NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who returned home on Tuesday after nine months in space, but unsurprisingly, this wasn't Suni's first rodeo in space.
The pair touched down in Florida on 18 March, and it seems as though they will need significant time before their bodies acclimatise to Earth and return to normal.
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Helen Sharman, who was the first Briton in space, told the BBC: "It will probably take them a few months to build up their muscle mass."
The experienced astronaut has been on several missions to the space station throughout her career, but made one big mistake during a trip in 2007.
It's not often they can request special food items on the space station, but Suni jumped at the chance of having wasabi, in an attempt to make a space-style sushi meal.
And while astronauts are fully prepped on how to deal with toxic spills that could contaminate the international space station, there is surprisingly no training on how to clean up flying wasabi.
You can see where this is going...
The three crew members on board in 2007 were all given bonus packs of their favourite food to help keep up morale, given that most of their meals were extremely bland and basic.
Space station dietitian Paula Hall described the importance of this.
She said: "Psychologically, it's very important.
"It's really important to have variety, to have surprises. It's important to have food that makes you happy, that makes you smile."
Everything is weightless in space, so cleaning things up is not exactly a straight-forward process.
The wasabi seemingly went everywhere, a story which Suni documented during a radio interview with WBZ.
The astronaut said: "We finally got the wasabi smell out after it was flying around everywhere.
"We cleaned it up off the walls a little bit."
Following the dreadful experience, the wasabi was confiscated, and taken to a cargo vehicle where it stayed firmly away.
Reflecting on the situation, which happened over a decade ago, Suni said: "I don't think we're going to use it anymore, it's too dangerous."
Upon their return home earlier this week, Steve Stich, manager of Nasa's Commercial Crew Program, said at a news conference: "The crew's doing great."