Much was made of the potential health risks that stranded NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams would face in space. Returning to Earth in March 2025, after an unexpected nine months at the International Space Station (ISS), their bodies will have adjusted to radiation and microgravity.

The effects of radiation and microgravity are the same for every astronaut — starting with nausea and bloated faces — but this mission was only meant to last a week. It begged the question: Would the effects be worse for Suni and Butch?

Humans haven't evolved to live in space — that is, in an environment unprotected by Earth's atmosphere, in near or zero-gravity — so those who travel to space need highly specialized training and careful health monitoring both before, during and afterward.

Astronauts selected for human spaceflight are considered capable of not only undertaking their assigned missions but also of managing complicated and changing situations.

Wilmore and Williams flew as test pilots for the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the ISS. But propulsion issues with their spacecraft meant their eight-day mission had to be extended. They joined a regular crew, known as SpaceX Crew 9.

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