What happens to your body after spending long time in space as doctor made sad admission about stranded astronauts

Surprise, surprise! Space travel isn’t good for you

Spending an extended period of time up in space isn’t good for you, which means that returning astronauts typically have a unique set of difficulties to overcome after returning to Earth.

The topic of interstellar travel is back in the news once again as we inch towards the (hopeful) return of stranded astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams. The paid have now spent over 270 days – approximately nine months – marooned in space.

Butch, 62, and Suni, 59, were only meant to be in space for around eight days onboard the first crewed voyage of Boeing Starliner on 4 June, 2024.

However, things didn’t quite go to plan, as I’m sure you’re already aware.

Butch and Suni have encountered a long eight days in space (YouTube/NASA)

Since then several seasons, the US presidential election, Christmas and 2024 have all come and gone before Butch and Suni had any idea of when they’d step foot on land once again. Fortunately, the pair are now hoping to return home at some point this month, but their interstellar ordeal is far from over.

What does being in space do to the body?

The longest time a human has ever spent in space was 437 days, with the record belonging to Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, while the American record goes to astronaut Frank Rubio, who returned to Earth after 371 days between 2022 and 2023.

When both Polyakov and Rubio returned made it back onto our planet they both noticed significant changes to their body, with the latter famously photographed as he was helped out of the spacecraft and taken for medical assessment.

Another notable case was that of US astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, who fainted during a welcome home ceremony in 2006.

So why does this happen? Well, the answer lies in the importance of gravity.

One of the biggest differences returning astronauts will notice is a loss of muscle mass, with the BBC reporting that space missions for longer than six months can see astronauts lose up to 30% of their muscle and bone mass.

Without gravity, astronauts have no need to use their muscles for activities such as walking, standing up or lifting heavy objects, with causes atrophy in their body.

NASA also added that weight-bearing bones lose an average of ‘1% to 1.5% of mineral density per month during spaceflight’.

Which means it’s no surprise why a returning astronaut would feel unsteady on their feet.

Changes to the body don’t end there either, with medical assessments taken from returning astronaut Scott Kelly also showed a decrease in speed and accuracy of his cognitive performance, a change in gut bacteria, weight loss and potential DNA damage from exposure to radiation.

Our bodies are made to live on Earth, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that travelling to space takes a toll on us (Getty Stock Images)

This means that our noble spacefarers, Butch and Suni, have this all to look forward to. The prognosis was backed up by pulmonologist and Air Force veteran Dr Vinay Gupta, who recently told MailOnline the pair would need ‘at least six weeks of rehabilitation’ after coming home.

So much for eight days in space, huh.