‘Trying to Remember What It’s Like to Walk’: Sunita Williams After 7 Months in Space- wna24
New Delhi: Astronaut Sunita Williams, stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024, spoke out about the things she hasn’t done in months, revealing that after an extraordinary seven-month mission aboard the ISS, she faced the startling challenge of losing the ability to walk.
Speaking to Needham High School students from the ISS, Williams revealed that she’s ‘trying to remember what it’s like to walk’. The Indian-origin astronaut graduated from the school in 1983.
“I’ve been up here long enough right now I’ve been trying to remember what it’s like to walk. I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down. You don’t have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here,” Sunita said to the students.
“It was a little bit of a shock, actually. We knew that it would be probably a month or so, honestly. But the extended stay was just a little bit different,” she added.
Williams and Butch Wilmore were originally scheduled for an eight-day mission, but technical problems with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft caused them to be stranded for more than seven months.
This surprising development has sparked a heated discussion about the long-term physical impact of prolonged space travel on astronauts.
The spacecraft that will bring Williams and Wilmore home won’t be ready for launch until late March 2025. The Dragon capsule intended for their return arrived at the ISS in September 2024.
NASA is collaborating with SpaceX to prepare the capsule for the mission. “We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station program and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule’s readiness for flight,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.