astronauts

An unpleasant fault in the ISS bath forces astronauts to extreme precautions

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Living in space is full of challenges. One of the most earthly is the frequency with which the toilets of the International Space Station are spoiled. A ghost threat. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi told on social networks that his weekend had been crowded by “a strange damage in the bathroom just before Saturday lunch.” In a somewhat cryptic way, Onishi reported That, after the incident, he had been “living with fear of the ghost threat, an invisible threat” that his followers soon interpreted as an unpleasant olfactory experience. Extreme precautions. Finally, Saturday’s breakdown in one of the toilets of the International Space Station has persisted this week, forcing astronauts to take drastic measures, such as giving up coffee. “The bathroom worked badly before yesterday,” explains Onishi in his X profile. “I had to spend yesterday without even taking a cup of coffee,” he laments. For a “coffee lover”, like He describes himselfthe measure reflects the seriousness with which the crew of expedition 73 are living the breakdown. The nth fault of the WC. On Wednesday, NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann “did an emergency maintenance in the afternoon, so I could enjoy a quiet morning again,” Onishi account. But the ghost threat persists. The bathrooms of the American segment of the Space Station have been for weeks, if not months, giving war. Without going any further, on July 15, Onishi himself He spent two hours replacing the “toilet pump separator”, a key piece that centrifuges urine and air. A Russian eschatological roulette. In May, the problems were even more evident. After change a defective pump Together with his NASA partner Jonny Kim, Takuya Onishi compared the use of the bathroom with “playing Russian roulette.” On another occasion, the breakdowns light was turned on at dawn. “Not to wake up others, I secretly contacted Houston and took care of the situation,” The Japanese astronaut commented. With humor, he added that the six times that the fault light had lit, he had been present in five. From the mission control they replied: “You are the chosen one.” A complicated engineering. The International Space Station has four toilets: two in the Russian segment (in the Zvezdá and Nauka modules) and two in the US segment (the WHC and The modern UWMSboth in the Tranquility module). These systems are engineering wonders that use air suction instead of water. While Urine is recycled through a processor complex To turn it into drinking water, solid waste is collected in bags inside hermetic containers. The containers are stored and, finally, are discarded in load ships designed to burn in the atmospheresuch as American Cygnus or Russian progress. Why do they fail so much. He New UWMS toilet He has given many problems since his installation, but he is not the only one who fails. In recent years there has been From water leaks In the urine pretreatment system until Simultaneous breakdowns in all toilets. Each failure requires that astronauts, who are also the plumbers of the station, dedicate time and effort to complex repairs in small spaces. Onishi’s story, a veteran astronaut in his second long -term stay, is a reminder that life in orbit mixes scientific experiments in microgravity with much more mundane challenges. For now, thanks to an emergency repair, normality and coffee have returned to the International Space Station. Images | NASA, JAXA In Xataka | In the 90s they experienced with living outside the earth and, indeed, we would all be dead except cockroaches

One of the Starliner ship astronauts has revealed that Houston skipped the regulation to save them: “They are heroes”

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NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are already at home After nine months of extended mission In the International Space Station. Although they have avoided participating in the political controversies surrounding your caseWilmore had a revealing interview with Ars Technica in which he explains that the failure of the Starliner ship was more tense than they had told us. The delays prior to the launch. Everything was ready to launch the Starliner ship in early May. Butch and Suni had begun their quarantine, a usual practice to reduce the risk of infecting a virus or infectious disease to other crew members of the International Space Station. However, a problem with a valve in the Centaur stage of the Atlas V and A helium leak in Starliner herself They delayed the launch for weeks. Butch Wilmore, ship’s pilot, asked NASA to return to Houston to continue practicing in the simulator, because he felt that his knowledge was no longer fresh. Finally, they took off on June 5, 2024. Cold aboard the ship. The launch of the Starliner was soft and very precise. Even more than the astronauts expected, since it did not require the typical trajectory corrections they had seen in the simulator or in previous experiences such as NASA astronauts. Butch and Suni felt, on the other hand, something for which the simulator had not prepared them: a booth too cold. Designed to carry four astronauts (or up to seven crew In missions outside NASA), the temperature aboard the Starliner, with only two inhabitants in this first test mission, fell below the 10 ºC, Wilmore recalls. Both went cold and ended up sleeping with their space costumes to heat a little. They begin to lose propellants. The problems that would mark the fate of the mission began on the second day. While approaching autonomously to the International Space Station, the Starliner began to lose propellants. The Boeing ship has 28 reaction control propellants to maneuver in orbit. Oriented backwards, forward and in three radio directions, they control their position and guidance both to secure a port of the ISS and to exorbit, on its return, towards the landing place. A tense approach to ISS. There were some problems with the performance of the propellants during A crew test in May 2022and Butch Wilmore worried him that they could reappear. It was just what happened. In its final approximation to the ISS, the ship lost two thrusters and Butch had to take manual control to maintain its trajectory. The thing would not end there. With Wilmore at the controls, the ship lost a third propeller and shortly after the room. At that time they stopped being able to promote themselves in one of the directions necessary for the approach. A decision against the regulation. According to official procedures, at that point they had to abort the approach to the International Space Station and return to Earth, since the attempt to coupch was too risky. Not only for them, but also for the ISS crew and for the orbital laboratory of 100,000 million dollars. At the same time, Butch and Suni thought that turning with so much failures would be equally dangerous. “I don’t know if we can return to earth,” said Butch Wilmore. “In fact, I think we probably can’t.” To top it off, they had been below the ISS, so they were traveling faster than the station and were moving away from it. Then, NASA’s mission control center, and more specifically flight director Ed Van Cise, decided to move forward with the coupling, against the manual. Heroes. “These people are heroes,” says Wilmore in the interview. “The heroes put on the tank, run to a flame building and take people out of there. The heroes also spend decades in their cubicles studying their systems and knowing them perfectly.” “And when there is no time to evaluate a situation, to talk to people and ask them what they think, they know their system so well that they devise a plan on the march. That is a hero. And there are several of them in mission control.” Have you tried to turn it off and turn it on? Houston informed Wilmore of the Plan, he released the controls and, immediately afterwards, the mission controllers sent a command to the Starliner to restart their systems. Turn off and turn on the ship resulted. They managed to recover the propelants and the control of the Starliner, Although then a fifth propeller failed that never recovered. With the help of the Mission Control Center, the ship managed to return to the autonomous mode and attach to the International Space Station. Now NASA’s decision is understood. If Butch had lost the fifth propeller while sailing manually with four less, the ship would have run out of the redundant maneuver necessary to control its reentry. It would have been potentially catastrophic. Even if Boeing collaborated with the investigation in the later months and expressed his confidence in the Starliner, the decision that the ship returned empty and the two crew remained in the ISS until the next rotation of astronauts In a spacex crew dragon It makes a lot of sense. The future of Starliner. The ship is still not certified for manned flights to the International Space Station. Boeing has lost $ 1.6 billion in its developmentbut NASA has hired six flights and maintains its intention to certify it for operational trips to the ISS next year. Although helium leaks seem solved with new stamps, propulsion failures are still not closed, so NASA and Boeing engineers will perform a series of exhaustive tests at the agency’s facilities in White Sands (New Mexico) to validate possible modifications, such as thermal barriers or changes in propulsion pulses. The next flight of the CST-100 Starliner ship to the International Space Station will not occur until the end of this year or principles that come, According to NASA. A new demonstration is needed in flight because Boeing could … Read more

Astronauts have become very different from space after a long period outside the planet

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In June 2024, NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the International Space Station for a mission of 8 to 10 days. However, the Starlliner ship problems They delayed their return Until March 2025286 days later. What began as a short stay became more than nine months of microgravity, which It can have deep effects In the body of astronauts: muscle atrophy, loss of bone density, cardiovascular alterations, vision and stress problems. This was its appearance before being thrown into the space in the Starliner ship: And this is its appearance when returning in the Crew Dragon ship that rescued them: Decades of aging Both NASA Like ESA They have studied in depth the effects of exposure to space and microgravity on the human body. One of the most common is the loss of muscle and bone mass. In the International Space Station there is no severity that forces the muscles and bones to work to sustain the body, so the tissues begin to weaken due to disuse. Astronauts lose about 1% bone mineral density for each month that pass in space. Their muscles, especially those of the legs and back, end up atrophy, hence they have trouble standing after landing on earth. To mitigate this effect, the ISS crew are subjected to railway routines: two hours a day on the running tape, static bicycle or resistance exercises. But it is not enough: a study published in Scientific Reports revealed that a stay of more than six months in space can cause bone losses equivalent to decades of aging on Earth. It is common for astronauts to have a greater risk of fractures due to the lower resistance of their bones, as if they were elderly. For Butch and Suni, with an expected bone loss of 9-10%, NASA has established An intensive 45 -day physical rehabilitation program. Even so, for many astronauts the recovery is incomplete even one year after returning. It is lacking two to four years for the muscles of a person to fully recover their original strength after a prolonged mission. Effects of microgravity Upon floating, body fluids are redistributed to the upper body, since gravity does not throw them towards the feet. This causes the swollen face feature seen in astronauts aboard the ISS. But it also has internal consequences: the body interprets that there is excess fluid and reduces total blood volume. With less blood volume and without the need to pump against gravity, the cardiovascular system relaxes. The heart can lose weight of its muscle walls and blood pressure tends to fall. Upon returning to the ground, this adjustment sometimes cause dizziness or even fainting (orthostatic hypotension), since gravity takes the blood again to the legs, and the bodyIt takes time to fall. Astronauts often use special compression suits or increase fluid and salt intake before the reentry to minimize these symptoms. Even so, it is common for them to remain seated, as happened with Butch and Suni when you get off the Crew Dragon, waiting for your body to be rebuilt. Another important physical effect discovered in the last decades of space exploration It is the so-called neuro-ocular syndrome associated with space flights (Sans). Without gravitational attraction, the displacement of fluids to the head can increase intracranial pressure, which in turn slightly deforms eye balloons and compresses the optic nerve. Many astronauts in prolonged stays report changes in their visual acuity: they can develop temporary farsightedness (difficulty seeing closely), which means that their eyes change under internal pressure. In long -term missions, More than 70% of astronauts They have come to suffer Sans. NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a year in space and then be compared to his twin brother Markdeveloped an edema of the optic nerve and changes in the retina. Prolonged ungrampidity and the closed environment of the ISS also They affect the immune system of astronautscausing changes in the distribution of white blood cells and in the Expression of certain immune genes In response to the extreme environment. Paradoxically, living in the sterilized environment of ISS can weaken the immune response over time: by not exposing yourself to so many everyday pathogens, the immune system lowers the guard. Cutaneous eruptions, allergies and even reactivation of latent viruses (such as herpes) have been observed due to the decrease in defenses. Radiation and nine months of stress At the same time, prolonged missions astronauts accumulate significant exposure to Solar radiation and cosmic raysnot having the atmosphere as a protective shield. However, a nine -month stay is within the acceptable limits of NASA, since the ISS orbit the Earth only 400 km of altitude. Cell damage It will be a much greater problem In future long -term space flights to the moon and Mars. More worrying are the Psychological effects of prolonged confinement in a space station that orbits the earth 16 times a day. The schedules are not a problem because the ISS follows a strict time routine with the time of the Greenwich meridian. But the lack of natural cycles of light and dark can alter biological rhythms, cause sleep deprivation or reduce cognitive performance. In the end, what can happen more invoice is the psychological experience of being working in a confined environment, far from the family and with a handful of classmates from different countries. In the case of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, this situation was aggravated by uncertainty: its mission was extended due to technical problems, for a long time without a clear return date. Hence Wilmore’s daughter will mention stress Like a problem. The good news is that most body changes in space are not permanent. Approximately 95% of physiological alterations return to normal in the weeks after return. Astronauts typically recover their balance and ability to walk in a few days, fluid distribution is rapidly normalized and sleep disorders tend to improve by reestablishing terrestrial cycles. As for psychological sequelae, career astronauts are chosen for their predisposition to be rendered under … Read more

Starliner astronauts made nine months of extra hours. The bonus they are going to receive from NASA is ridiculous

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The image of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams finally on earth It will be possibly one of the 2025 snapshots. To remember his HISTORY HISTORY in space after the multiple leaks and failures of the Boeing Starliner. If you are wondering if it is worth being an astronaut after such a case, the answer is given by the bonus that they will receive for that time “more” in orbit. It is not a matter of money. It goes for long. As We countAstronauts Williams and Wilmore finally returned to Earth after nine months have passed in space, a period much longer than initially planned. His mission aboard the Boeing Starliner began in June 2024 and had to last just over a week. However, a ruling in the capsule propellars prevented its correct coupling with the International Space Station (EEI), leaving astronauts stranded in orbit until the technical problems were solved. The delay generated Great anxiety in social networkswith many speculating about the safety and well -being of astronauts. However, Williams and Wilmore remained firm in their commitment to the mission and denied the statements that they were “abandoned” or “trapped.” In fact and according to Wilmore himself clarifiedthese types of unforeseen events are part of the work and are something for which they are prepared. The economic sacrifice. Despite the extreme challenges they face, the truth is that NASA astronauts do not receive additional compensation for the danger of their missions or for long hours of work in space. Williams and Wilmore earn a salary that is public: an upright annual 152,258 dollars based on updated NASA rates. However, and here is the Quid that differentiates it with other types of “ordinary” works, the salary does not include payment for extra hours, holidays or dangerous conditions, a notable difference with respect to many other well -paid professions on earth. According to Mike Massiminoformer NASA astronaut, “there is no extra pay due to danger, or compensation for working longer in space,” which means that, despite having spent nine months in orbit instead of a week, astronauts will not receive any additional remuneration. The closest thing to an “extra” pay you receive is a small daily stipendio of 5 dollars for being in space, a very small amount and we would say that ridiculous, adding just $ 1,430 for the 286 days that passed in the US. What does NASA say. For its part, the American space agency argues that astronauts They have all their expenses coveredincluding transport, accommodation and food during their stay in the US. Again, compared to other work of high salaries that do not imply physical risks, astronaut’s pay may seem disproportionate, especially if we take into account the danger they face. It is not a matter of money. This takes us to the other Quid of being an astronaut. While other professions with similar salaries, let’s put A bank workeror a notary, they allow working in comfortable environments without exposure to mortal hazards, space exploration implies isolation, uncertainty and constant risk. And, even so, many astronauts choose this race. The key seems clear: they do it by pure vocation and passion for space, rather than for economic reasons. Being Astronaut is still a dream of childhood for many. In fact, A 2019 study De Lego revealed that more than 10% of children in the United States and the United Kingdom continued to aspire to become astronauts, despite the rise of new professions such as digital content creators. For Williams and Wilmore, the possibility of contributing to space exploration and scientific research surely exceeds any financial sacrifice. It is not a wait, it is a mission. In addition, we must understand that, throughout their stay in the US, Williams and Wilmore not only expected their return home, but actively worked in the maintenance and improvement of the station. Nine months give a lot, and there they were with tasks such as inspection and repair of hardware, loading of loading and supplies, support of scientific experiments and technological demonstrations, configuration of a new air lock system or with physical activity tests in microgravity. In summary, his time in orbit contributed to NASA’s scientific knowledge and the maintenance of the EEI as a key center for space exploration. Resistance and commitment. No doubt, for many of us the simple idea of ​​being stranded in space may seem an unimaginable nightmare. But for astronauts like Williams and Wilmore, it is simply part of the work. According to Ken BowersoxNASA’s Head of Space Operations, astronauts are trained not to focus on when they will return, but in the success of the mission. Perhaps for this reason, and beyond the money they receive, what happened is a good reminder that, in space exploration, motivation and resilience are as important as technology itself. Image | POT In Xataka | “Stranded” astronauts in space say goodbye to the ISS with a script turn: supporting Elon Musk’s version In Xataka | The soap opera is over: the “stranded” astronauts in space have returned to Earth nine months later

Astronauts launched by Boeing are returning to Earth nine months later, in a Spacex ship

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Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are returning to Earth after nine months at the International Space Station. It is not an unusually long stay for an astronaut (the Russians They have come to spend three times longer in orbit), but Wilmore and Williams originally rose for a test mission just over a week. What followed was one of the most controversial decisions that NASA has taken in recent years. Express rotation Although How Elon Musk and Donald Trump tell himNASA’s two astronauts have not been really abandoned. The Boeing Starliner ship, with which they went up to the ISS in June, returned empty to Earth for a failure in the propulsion system that caused NASA managers to lose confidence in a safe return for their astronauts. Wilmore and Williams were reassigned, first, to the CREW-8 mission of Spacex. If there had been an emergency in the ISS between August and September, they would have returned in that ship under the seats of the other four crew, without the right suit. In September, the CREW-9 mission reached the ISS with two empty seats and two costumes for both, which regularized its situation. Since then, Wilmore and Williams have had a firm return plan: as soon as the four relay astronauts (the Spacex Crew-10 mission), they would return to Earth together with their two companions of the CREW-9 mission. There were some delays for technical issues (the Crew Dragon ship initially assigned to the CREW-10 mission was not ready and had to be replaced), but political tensions ended up accelerating things. Crew-10 arrived at the ISS during the early hours of Monday. 24 hours later, in the early hours of Tuesday, the CREW-9 mission was decoupling to enter the atmosphere and return to the earth. Normally astronauts spend more time together to catch up on the details of the orbital station, but this time it has been an express rotation. The return flight Dressed in their Spacex costumes, very different from those of the Boeing Starliner ship with those who were thrown into space, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said goodbye to their peers and entered the Crew Dragon ship with Nick Hague of NASA and Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos, the other two crew of the CREW-9 mission. At 5:05 UTC, the Spacex ship decoupled from the ISS autonomously and quickly moved away from the laboratory in orbit using its propellants. The Crew Dragon has been maneuvering to reduce its altitude. It is expected that Amerize near the Coast of Florida at 9:57 p.m. UTC, 17 hours after its departure. The most delicate maneuver will occur 12 minutes before shocking. The ship will detach from its trunk and turn on its engines to exorbitar. Then he will perform his atmospheric reentry, being surrounded by plasma by the speed at which he will cross the gases of the Earth’s atmosphere. When it reaches 5,500 meters of altitude, the two pilot parachutes will open to stop the ship, followed by four main parachutes to 1,950 meters to cushion the shocking. The Dragon ship will play the Atlantic Ocean at a speed of 7.6 meters per second, detaching from its parachutes and bringing back to Butch and Suni after nine months of scientific work and maintenance aboard the ISS. The soap opera will have finished. Images | POT In Xataka | “Stranded” astronauts in space say goodbye to the ISS with a script turn: supporting Elon Musk’s version

Starliner astronauts will return home 287 days later. Another ship change has forced to modify the plans

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NASA has decided to advance the return of the CREW-9 mission and, with it, that of the Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams astronauts, who left for the International Space Station on June 5, 2024 in the Boeing Starliner ship. Despite Elon Musk and Donald Trump messagesreason is not political, but operational. A few days of advance. If new delays on their trip, Butch and Suni will not return will return home on March 19. Taking into account that they were launched to space for a week, it is nine months after planned. But if we stick to The last date that NASA managedastronauts will return with a few days of advance. Context. In June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left towards the ISS aboard the Starliner space capsule, Boeing’s alternative to the Crew Dragon ship of Spacex. It was the first manned trip of the Boeing spacecraft, and it was assumed that the last certification test before starting to transport astronauts regularly to the International Space Station. However, shortly after its launch, The Starliner experienced serious problems in its propulsion systemwhich forced to suspend his return. The situation lasted several months until NASA decided that the ship returned empty. This accident left astronauts at the space station and forced NASA to find a different solution for its return. What they are waiting for. Once the destiny of the Starliner, Wilmore and Williams decided, they became part of the permanent crew of the ISS. They work in the experiments in orbit and the maintenance of the station. They have even made space walks: Wilmore has two on this mission, and has become The woman with more hours of extravehicular activity. So that they could return, NASA He booked two empty seats on the Crew-9 mission of Spacex. The Crew Dragon ship in which they will return to Earth has been coupled to the ISS since September Station maintenance. And the CREW-10 mission is not yet ready. Another change of ship. The CREW-10 mission was supposed to take off in a new Crew Dragon ship, called C213, which has not yet flown to space. However, a technical incidence, apparently related to the ship’s batteries, forced to delay its first flight at least until the end of April. Instead of continuing to delay the calendar (and with it, the return of Wilmore and Williams), NASA has opted for a logistics maneuver: Reassign to the CREW-10 mission an already tested shipthe C210 ‘Endurance’, which was preparing to fly with the private axiom-4 mission in spring. Thanks to this ship change, Crew-9’s return not only is not delayed, but is ahead of a few days. New dates. NASA plans to launch the CREW-10 mission on March 12, 2025, which would allow the CREW-9 to return on March 19 with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, along with their companions Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (from the Russian agency Roscosmos). This change of dates responds, as we have seen, to a technical and operational issue, but explains why Elon Musk and Donald Trump published on social networks that Spacex would rescue the two astronauts “abandoned in the ISS” as soon as possible. A propaganda narrative of what was really happening after the curtain. Image | Suni Williams during a space walk (NASA) In Xataka | It is not that Elon Musk has managed to introduce its influence on NASA. Is that he has entered sweeping

Elon Musk says he will rescue the two astronauts stranded in the space at Trump. The problem is that

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A incendiary message. “The president of the United States has asked Spacex to bring the two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station as soon as possible,” Elon Musk wrote In his profile of X. “It is terrible that the Biden administration has left them there for so long.” After 20 minutes, more than one million people have seen the message, which Musk apostilled answering “true” to the following answer: “The hatred they had was greater than their desire to rescue those astronauts.” A little context. In June 2024, two astronauts arrived at the International Space Station aboard the Starliner spacecraft, Boeing’s alternative to the Crew Dragon of Spacex. The ship had to spend a week in orbit before returning to Earth, but A failure in the propulsion system During the first leg he made three months undergoing And finally I would go empty. Elon Musk’s X messages about astronauts Elon Musk lies. No one will be surprised at this point that Musk publishes propaganda in his X profile, but the message misrepresent the reality in a particularly fantasy way. While it is true that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are still in space since June, they are not stranded. SPACEX CREW-9 MISSION took off in September 2024long before Trump assumed the presidency, with two empty seats to bring them back. So why do they continue in the ISS? It was the plan provided by NASA. Wilmore and Williams were reallocated to the CREW-9 mission and became part of the permanent crew of the International Space Station. Williams is, in fact, the commander of expedition 72, and He has just taken a space walk As part of your tasks. That NASA did not ask Spacex to look for them immediately has nothing to do with the hatred of Musk, but that there was no crew dragon to immediately available. The most logical solution was to get two astronauts out of the next round trip (the CREW-9 mission) to leave two free seats. And now what? The return of the CREW-9 mission is scheduled for the end of March 2025. So far, the expected thing was that Wilmore and Williams return along with their mission partners, the American Nick Hague and the Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov, in March or maybe in April. But Musk’s message suggests that perhaps his return goes ahead. As for the Starliner, NASA canceled the flight that had hired Boeing By 2025. The two astronaut rotations of this year will be in charge of Spacex while Boeing continues to analyze what could fail in its first manned flight and how it plans to solve it. Images | Steve Jurvetson (CC By 2.0), NASA In Xataka | The Starliner ship is not only a humiliation for Boeing: it is a moneyless money well that will no longer be able to recover

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