How will the two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station cope?

They thought they would travel for eight days, maybe ten. Now they are embarking on a journey that will take several months, and could extend beyond February 2025. Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore They have actually been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than two months. The Starliner spacecraft built by Boeing to take them to the ISS no longer meets all of NASA’s safety standards, and it is impossible to use it to bring the astronauts back to Earth. So two questions remain unanswered: How do we get them back to our good old planet? But above all: How do we keep them busy during the long months they are about to spend in a very confined environment?

Currently, Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore are guests on the International Space Station. They are not part of Expedition 71, a group of seven astronauts aboard the ISS tasked with completing hundreds of scientific tasks. On the other hand, NASA notes that the Americans are well integrated into this group, and that they are completing some of the small tasks required of them each day.

If their stay on the ISS extends to several months, they can be considered true members of Expedition 71. They can therefore take extravehicular flights, and thus outside the ISS, and work in the laboratory to multiply the experiences.

Marathon in space

NASA will also assign the astronauts additional tasks to keep them busy each day: checking equipment, organizing cargo, checking the Starliner… They also took advantage of the little free time, using it in particular to simulate spacecraft tests. Olympic games, such as pommel horse.

Suni Williams, a retired Navy helicopter pilot, has proven she’s still an athlete: In 2012, she was the first to complete a triathlon in space, using a bicycle to do so, or a treadmill to simulate swimming, so she stays strapped in so she doesn’t experience too much zero gravity. She also ran the Boston Marathon… but from the International Space Station in 2007. Butch Wilmore was on his third mission in space. Between them, they’ve spent more than 500 days on the ISS.

The astronauts also had to make do with the small equipment they brought with them for their mission, which was supposed to last only a week. On Tuesday, the ship continued to resupply them, and also brought food for the crew.

NASA should decide by mid-August how to bring back Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore. Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, now docked at the International Space Station, could make the return trip empty. One option for bringing the Americans back is to fly them aboard a SpaceX capsule, which should drop other astronauts to the ISS by February 2025.