A NASA astronaut who almost died in space has revealed some of the biggest lessons he’s learnt about humans.
Jerry Linenger, who retired in 1998, battled an almost fatal fire onboard the Russian space station, Mir, back in 1997.
Although Linenger managed to control the blaze, there was a terrifying moment in which he felt convinced he was going to die.
Not only had the fire cut off access to one of the station’s escape vehicles, but it had also filled the modules with smoke.
In a speech at Harding University earlier this year – as reported by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette – Linenger explained how he felt deep regret that he would be leaving behind his young son.
When he and the rest of the team – consisting of Aleksandr Y. Kaleri, Valeri G. Korzun, Vasili V. Tsibliyev, Reinhold Ewald and Aleksandr I. Lazutkin – managed to escape the catastrophe unharmed, Linenger had a realisation about humanity and the life lessons all humans can benefit from, whether they ever travel to space or not.
After surviving the fire, Linenger vowed to leave notes for his son during his work, should a dangerous situation ever arise again.
He encourages others to do the same, to avoid feeling that ‘pain and regret’, explaining: “Leave that behind for the people you care about.”
Linenger recalled his experience onboard Mir (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
During his line of work, Linenger faced all kinds of challenges. For example, while staying on Mir, he became the first American to spacewalk from a foreign space station.
But while in free fall, Linenger noted how he was falling ‘100 times faster’ than he had ever experienced – but he managed to stay calm.
“The adaptability of a human being is immeasurable,” he explained. “Find that moral courage [and] get the job done.”
Linenger also emphasised the importance of rest, explaining how crucial it is to ‘leave your problems behind’ when you go to sleep at night, to avoid wasting energy.
“Whatever your problems, when you go to bed at night, leave them behind,” he explained in his speech. “Sleep well.”
Linenger (far left) onboard Mir, alongside Valeri Korzun, Aleksandr Kaleri and John Blaha (Space Frontiers/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
After years of working among the stars, Linenger has never lost sight of the privilege of being able to ‘take in the grandeur’ of the planet from up in space. And it’s something that others can take from, too.
“Make every day count,” he said. “Are you just putting in time, wasting your life? Take advantage of your opportunities.”
Speaking of Linenger’s stay on Mir, NASA explained: “In completing the nearly five month mission, Linenger logged approximately 50 million miles (the equivalent of over 110 roundtrips to the Moon and back), more than 2000 orbits around the Earth, and traveled at an average speed of 18,000 miles per hour.
NASA astronaut speaks out
“Because of the flawless launch, docking, undocking, and landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-84) crew-exchange mission, he made it back to the planet just in time to be reunited with Kathryn and to witness the birth of their second son.”
Featured Image Credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images / Space Frontiers/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Topics: NASA, Space, Science
It turns out that the effects of space don’t stop as soon as astronauts return to Earth – something which Frank Rubio found out last year.
When it comes to what happens to the human body in space – there’s a few simulations out there to show what would happen if we somehow ended up in space with a spacesuit.
And let me tell you, it’s not pretty.
However, that terrifying situation aside, the reality of life in space doesn’t sound so luxurious and the effects of being up there for extended periods of time can be pretty brutal, which is what astronaut Catherine Coleman found out after spending six months floating about on the International Space Station (ISS).
But scientists have always been keen to find out what a sudden return to Earth from space has on the human body.
So when NASA astronaut Frank Rubio returned from 371 days up in space – the most ever by a US astronaut – he was subjected to a series of assessments on his mental and physical health, as well as his immune system, and for changes to his genes.
NASA
The 49-year-old was supposed to be up on the ISS for six months but that
At around 7:00am on September 27, 2023, he arrived back on Earth, and after so much time on the ISS, everyday tasks like standing up and walking around would have been new to him.
The lack of gravity up in space means that muscle mass decreases as it is simply not being used, as well as bone loss.
That starts off early in the mission before tailing off after a bit.
One of the biggest issues is with balance, as Dr Jennifer Fogarty – chief scientific officer at Baylor College of Medicine’s Translational Research Institute for Space Health – told ABC News: “How do you coordinate movement like walking, which you haven’t done for a long period of time, and then the idea of balance?
“When you put those two together, it can kind of create a little bit of a precarious situation and something that’s very well-monitored with the crew members when they land on Earth.”
She also pointed out that longer missions will take astronauts longer to acclimatise back to Earth conditions.
He called the International Space Station his home for over a year (Paolo Nespoli – ESA/NASA via Getty Images)
Weightlessness does a lot to the body and can cause structural changes to the eyes and brain, known as Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome.
Being in an enclosed and isolated environment can also cause fatigue, stress, and loss of sleep.
Space is obviously a tough place to go, but Fogarty said that these changes and effects aren’t unaccounted for and are the sort of things that NASA prepares for before sending anyone out there.
She said: “We can select people, train them and make sure they’re very healthy before they go.
“We do the research to understand where we can make different choices with the environments we build for these people to live and work in, so that we are not tapping into those reserves…and compromising them.”
Rubio said that he spent four months recovering and ‘reincorporating [himself] back into Earth’, telling Time: “You adapt incredibly quickly to being in space, but then unfortunately, the readaptation process back to earth can sometimes be a little bit longer and more difficult.”
Featured Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images
Topics: NASA, International Space Station, Health, Space, Science
NASA is set to make history today (December 24) when its Parker Solar Probe lands closest to the sun’s surface than ever before.
The probe will travel 3.8 million miles above the sun’s molten surface, hopefully sampling the star’s atmosphere for the first time.
It will be seven times closer to the sun than any other craft in humanity’s history.
The spacecraft will fly by the sun’s ‘corona,’ which is around 1.8 million to 3.6 million degrees F (1 million to 2 million degrees C) and is visible from Earth as bright wisps during a total solar eclipse, you’d get a decent tan if you went near it.
Traveling at 435,000 mph, the probe is the fastest object ever made by humans
(NASA)
It’s set to cover the distance between New York and London in just under 30 seconds, which sure does give the hypothetical Transatlantic Tunnel a run for its money.
The front of the spacecraft is expected to reach 2,552 F (1,400 C) and is only protected by a 4.5 inch carbon-composite shield.
It’s going to be an anxious wait for scientists to learn whether or not it’s survived the mission when it sends a signal back to Earth on December 27.
Yanping Guo, the mission designer and navigation manager, told Sky News: “We will be looking forward to that… It’s like a baby to me.
“But I’m pretty confident we will hear good news and get more data from the spacecraft.”
The sun’s corona can be seen during eclipses (Pitris/Getty Images)
The Parker Probe first made history when it launched in 2018, becoming the first spacecraft to ‘touch’ the sun.
It’s been circling ever closer to its surface for the past six years and is set to make history when it reaches the corona on its 22nd orbit.
Crucial data on the star’s upper atmosphere solar wind has already been collected.
The historic flyby could help scientists gain an even deeper understanding of the sun’s solar wind.
Scientists at Imperial College London previously found sharp spikes in the sun’s magnetic field which helped to generate million-mile-an-hour solar wind.
These create the stunning aurora seen from our planet, but the dazzling display can be dangerous.
The Parker Solar Probe is set to make history once again (Juan Ruiz Paramo/Getty Images)
Professor Tim Horbury, who led the research, explained: “The radiation can damage astronauts, it can knock out satellites and even have effects on the ground, for example, on the power grid.
“By understanding how the solar wind is made and how it carries the magnetic field out into interplanetary space, we hope in the long run to be able to make better predictions about what’s going to arrive at the Earth.”
Featured Image Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images/Remotevfx/Getty Images
Topics: NASA, Science, Technology, Space
Former astronaut Ronald Garan came to a both haunting and beautiful conclusion while staring at Earth from space.
While a space cadet for NASA, Ronald has spent a total of 178 days in space and has come to a crushing realization in the process.
Now before you flat-earthers get excited, no he didn’t see the world was flat or that we are riding on the back of a cosmic turtle or some other odd theory.
In reality, he came to a realization about humanity. Ronald believes we are all living a lie and the 62-year-old might have a point.
Having flown 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits throughout his career at NASA, Ronald has surely felt the ‘overview effect’ more than once.
The term is used for a phenomenon astronauts go through as they get an ‘unexpected and overwhelming feeling of emotion’ looking at Earth from space.
Now that really is a once in a lifetime view (Getty Stock Image)
This has likely had an impact on Ronald on one occasion when he was aboard the International Space Station and spotted a long line of lights stretching across Asia.
He then realized it was a man-made structure of the border between India and Pakistan.
In a TED talk from 2016, he said: “Initially, I wrote this off as a strange reflection of moonlight on a river.
“I was very intrigued. It turns out that this was not a natural reflection at all.
“I’ve always said that you can’t see borders from space, apparently I was wrong.
“The Earth, when viewed from space, almost always looks beautiful and peaceful.
“But was this an example of man made changes to the landscape that was clearly visible from space.”
This has tied into his belief that humans are living a lie and have the wrong outlook on day-to-day life.
In an interview with Big Think, he explained: “We keep trying to deal with issues such as global warming, deforestation, biodiversity loss as stand alone issues when in reality they’re just symptoms of the underlying root problem and the problem is, that we don’t see ourselves as planetary”.
Ronald has flown 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits throughout his career at NASA. (Erika Goldring/Getty Images)
“When I looked out of the window of the International Space Station, I saw the paparazzi-like flashes of lightening storms, I saw dancing curtains of auroras that seemed so close it was as if we could reach out and touch them and I saw the unbelievable thinness of our planet’s atmosphere.
“In that moment I was hit by the sobering realization.”
Ronald came to the understanding that every living thing on Earth was being kept alive by a very thin layer and people don’t realize just how connected we all are.
“I saw an iridescent biosphere teaming with life, I didn’t see an economy, but since our human-made systems treat everything including the very life-support systems of our planet as the […] subsidiary of the global economy, it’s obvious from the vanish point of space that we’re living a lie,” he added.
Ronald has urged people to shift their thinking for the overall benefit of humanity and move from thinking ‘economy, society, planet to planet, society, economy.’
Featured Image Credit: Erika Goldring/Getty Images/NASA
Topics: Space, NASA, Technology
At this point, it would be fair to assume the pair are getting sick at looking at the Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) by now.
What was meant to be a quick eight day stay has seemingly turned into the most extended stay for Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, 59, and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, 61, who were initially launched into space from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on June 5.
But as the Boeing Starliner Calypso approached the space station, the capsule’s thrusters malfunctioned, as well as five helium leaks.
Because of these technical issues, NASA deemed it too dangerous for the astronauts to travel back on the capsule, which eventually returned to Earth – leaving Williams and Wilmore stranded.
The pair were expected to hitch a ride with the SpaceX Crew-9 in February 2025, but things haven’t exactly gone to plan there either as the Dragon Capsule also experienced a ‘rare problem’ upon takeoff.
So it looks like the pair will have to stay up there a little while longer as a new crew is needed to go to the space station before Wilmore and Williams can make their way back to Earth.
Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams’ appearance in new photos while onboard the ISS has sparked concern (NASA)
On Tuesday (December 17), NASA said that the duo can only leave after a ‘handover period’ which allows lessons to be shared with the newly arrived crew for ‘a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex’.
And since SpaceX have announced that they need more time to scramble a replacement vessel, NASA has decided it would be better to hold off for a new craft, The Independent reports.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, spoke about the difficulties of completing the mission of bringing them home without a hitch, as he said that the latest schedule change will allow teams more time to ‘complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft’ set to arrive at the SpaceX Florida facility in January.
He continued: “Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail.
The two astronauts chatted to the media on September 13 (BBC News/NASA)
“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.”
Sending messages back to Earth, the duo have seemingly been in good spirits about the whole thing, however.
Photos from the ISS show Williams and Wilmore tucking into pizza and packets of grilled peppers – though these images initially sparked some concern about the pair’s health, which they later addressed.
One NASA employee admitted that the situation was unexpected, but they have been taking care to bring the pair home safely, adding: “None of this was anticipated. They were supposed to be there for a week, and now it’s going on six months. “They should be home by now and we should be focused on other things. It’s all very unpredictable.”
