{"id":9669,"date":"2025-03-21T13:50:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/?p=9669"},"modified":"2025-03-21T13:50:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:50:42","slug":"before-after-photos-of-stranded-astronauts-show-impact-of-being-stuck-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/archives\/9669","title":{"rendered":"Before\/after photos of stranded astronauts show impact of being stuck in space"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class='\"entry-header\"'>\n<h1 class='\"entry-title\"'><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"attachment-main-thumbnail' size-main-thumbnail src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/cdn-main.newsner.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/sites%5C/11%5C/2025%5C/03%5C/20083209%5C/SW-664x350.jpg%5C%22" sizes='\"auto,' srcset='\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/03\/20083209\/SW-664x350.jpg' https: alt='\"Suni' williams. credit getty images width='\"664\"' height='\"350\"'>\n\n<div class='\"entry-content\"'>\n<div class='\"show-inline-featured-image' wp-caption alignnone>\n<p><strong>Having spent an incredible nine months in space, stranded astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams were finally brought back to Earth on Tuesday (March 18).\n<p>Having initially made their way to the International Space Station (ISS) in June of 2024, the pair were\u00a0<em>supposed\u00a0to complete their mission and make a return journey to Earth after just eight days.\n<div id='\"newsner-1b84a1b9217627e58ff789323ba171d8\"' class='\"newsner-1b84a1b9217627e58ff789323ba171d8' newsner-bluebillywig_instream>\n<p>A string of complications, however, forced those plans to change. All told, Wilmore and Williams have been stuck on the ISS for nine months.\n</p><div class='\"code-block' code-block-2>\n<p>When the pair were finally rescued, being ferried back to their home planet aboard the Space X Dragon spacecraft, they were whisked away on stretchers before they could take a first step on land.\n</p><div id='\"newsner-40fe7eb85f0eca871aaf0e01c04eb307\"' class='\"newsner-40fe7eb85f0eca871aaf0e01c04eb307' newsner-incide_content_once>\n<p>Needless to say, returning from such a long stint in space means adjusting to a fair few things on Earth, with it reported that Wilmore and Williams may face adverse health ramifications.\n</p><p>Aside from breathing actual oxygen from the air, the astronauts are also experiencing gravity against their bones for the first time in nine months, and will also have to contend with conditions such as \u2018chicken legs\u2019 and \u2018baby feet\u2019, as well as an increased risk of cancer, as\u00a0per the Daily Mail.\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image' size-full><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"wp-image-166554\"' src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/cdn-main.newsner.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/sites%5C/11%5C/2025%5C/03%5C/20083501%5C/GettyImages-2151794548-scaled.jpg%5C%22" sizes='\"auto,' srcset='\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/03\/20083501\/GettyImages-2151794548-scaled.jpg' https: alt='\"\"' width='\"2560\"' height='\"1706\"'><figcaption class='\"wp-element-caption\"'>CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA \u2013 MAY 06: NASA\u2019s Boeing Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore (L) and Pilot Suni Williams walk out of the Operations and Checkout Building on May 06, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The astronauts are heading to Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft, which sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 for NASA\u2019s Boeing crew flight test to the International Space Station.\n<p>Their initial welcome home period here on Earth will naturally include all manner of tests being undertaken at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Yet there are experts who have voiced concerns over tell-tale signs that point to possible issues with their health.\n</p><p>Given the sheer length of their unplanned stay upon the ISS, it\u2019s hardly a surprise that Wilmore and Williams underwent a visible physical transformation prior to their return to Earth. For one, onlookers pointed out that the pair looked gaunt, appearing to have lost quite a bit of weight over the past nine months.\n</p><div id='\"newsner-389022089\"' class='\"newsner-article_inside_content\"'>\n<div id='\"newsner-ff20d5b4125cad957633326c9fcfe0cf\"' class='\"newsner-ff20d5b4125cad957633326c9fcfe0cf' newsner-amp_article_inside_content>\n<p>Yet while that\u2019s to be expected, there are other, arguably more concerning health factors to consider, if we\u2019re to listen to the experts.\n</p><p>Some, for example, have spoken on the fact that Wilmore and Williams have a build-up of fluids in their head due to pressure on their eyes and optical nerves. This condition, termed Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), could affect their appearance.\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image' size-full><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"wp-image-166553\"' src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/cdn-main.newsner.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/sites%5C/11%5C/2025%5C/03%5C/20083440%5C/GettyImages-2205242110-scaled.jpg%5C%22" sizes='\"auto,' srcset='\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/03\/20083440\/GettyImages-2205242110-scaled.jpg' https: alt='\"\"' width='\"2560\"' height='\"1847\"'><figcaption class='\"wp-element-caption\"'>TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA, MARCH 18: (EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This handout image was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images\u2019 editorial policy) In this handout image provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NASA astronaut Suni Williams is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN after she and fellow NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov landed on the water on March 18, 2025 off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida. Williams and Wilmore were returning from a stay onboard the International Space Station that began in June 2024.\u00a0\n<p>The majority of astronauts\u2019 eyes return to normal once they\u2019re on Earth again, but NASA says some side effects of SANS could be permanent. Unfortunately, this can depend on how long an astronaut has been in space \u2013 potentially bad news for Wilmore and Williams since their stay was so prolonged.\n</p><p>Not only that, but there\u2019s microgravity to consider. The lack of Earth\u2019s gravity causes astronauts\u2019 muscles to atrophy over time, making it difficult for them to maintain a healthy weight (and so affecting their appearance). This was also why they were stretchered away from their vessel after splashing down.\n</p><p>Finally, there\u2019s Spaceflight Venous Thrombosis (SVT), which involves an upward fluid shift and can lead to an astronaut\u2019s face looking \u2018puffy\u2019.\n</p><p><strong>What did you make of Wilmore and Williams\u2019 appearances when they finally returned to Earth this week? Let us know in the comments.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having spent an incredible nine months in space, stranded astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams were finally brought back to Earth on Tuesday (March 18). Having initially made their way &hellip; \n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9671,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669\/revisions\/9671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p></strong></p></figcaption></figure></p></div></div></figcaption></figure></p></div></div></div></em></p></strong></p></div></div></h1></header>