Britt Jones
The sister of one of the 'stranded' NASA astronauts has made a touching comment about what it's been like dealing with her being away from Earth for nine months.
Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore have finally returned home earlier this week, after having spent more than nine months in outer space.
The pair were supposed to be on the International Space Station (ISS) for approximately a week, but after technical issues struck their Boeing craft, they found themselves stranded there for an extra 278 days.
But after Elon Musk’s SpaceX craft and Crew-10 departed on 17 March and met the NASA astronauts on the ISS for a handover, they were filmed hurtling down to Earth and landing safely in the sea this week.
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While the pair can now enjoy things like gravity, the feeling of the sun on their skin, fresh food and all the smells that come with living on Earth, there have also been some things they need to get used to.
Not being able to drop things and expecting them to float, for one.
Then there are the health challenges that could develop due to living in zero gravity, such as reduced bone density, muscle mass and the risk of cancer, and developing blood clots and vision issues.
Now that the pair are receiving treatment and will begin their NASA rehabilitation, it won’t be long until their back to their pre-space shape and able to continue life as normal.
But one thing that may have found difficult was the distance from their family.
Having been stuck in space for nine months, the astronauts were unable to feel things like a hug, kiss, a little pat on the back and more that often comes with seeing family each day.
Now, Suni’s family have come out to reveal a heartbreaking admission about what it was like to be separated from her, whilst maintaining contact.
The family explained that they spoke to Suni every week, but it just wasn’t the same as having her at home with them.
Speaking to WCNC, her sister shared in a televised interview: “In her email, she wrote, like ‘you forget that in space you’re not holding hands you’re not hugging people. You love them up there but it’s not the same’.”
Trying to not make the distance between them feel so far away, her family ‘asked people to write their funny stories and send her jokes, and they made a whole newspaper for her'.
Anything to make things easier for her in space.
While you might think that the pair will be frustrated to ever go back into space having had such a failed mission, you’d be wrong.
During a press conference on Tuesday 4 March from the ISS, Williams said that she would 'miss everything about space' once back at Earth.
"Just the fact that we're living up here in this very unique place gives you an amazing perspective not only, out the window, obviously, but also just on how to solve problems," she continued.
"I don't want to lose that spark of inspiration and that perspective when I leave, so I got to bottle it somehow."