After spending nine unexpected months in space, astronaut Sunita Williams is finally returning to Earth—but the real challenge begins now. From muscle loss to balance issues and even psychological shifts, life back on Earth won't be the same. How will she recover?
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00:00Oh looks like we're getting our next crew member here. That is none other than Sunny Williams.
00:05After nine unexpected months in space, Sunita Williams is finally home.
00:10But stepping back onto Earth won't be easy. Just like astronauts before her,
00:14she will have to relearn how to walk, balance, and even stand without collapsing.
00:19Spending time in space wrecks the human body. Muscles weaken, bones lose calcium,
00:24and the heart shrinks slightly. In extreme cases, astronauts struggle to walk and have to be
00:28carried out on stretchers. Sunita will immediately enter NASA's rehab program designed to restore
00:34astronauts' strength after months of floating. After her 289-day mission, Peggy Whitson took
00:3945 days to regain her full strength. And Russian cosmonaut Valery, he spent 437 days in space.
00:45When he returned, his body had lost so much coordination that even standing still was a
00:50challenge. Sunita's rehab will include intense physical therapy, treadmill training, balance
00:55exercises, and resistance workouts. She'll also have to fight space-induced dizziness and baby
01:00feet, where even simple movements feel impossible. And then there's the psychological side. Many
01:06astronauts experience something called the overview effect, a profound shift in how they
01:10see the world after looking at Earth from space. It'll take weeks, maybe months for Sunita to fully
01:15recover. But after 9 months in space, she's got one mission left, learning how to live on Earth again.