After enduring a challenging nine-month stint in space, it’s hardly shocking that NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who were marooned in orbit, returned looking noticeably different.
On Tuesday, March 18, the duo touched down on Earth via the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, ending their unexpected extended stay on the International Space Station (ISS) that began in June of the previous year.
Such a prolonged absence from Earth inevitably takes a toll on their well-being, a fact NASA clearly anticipated. Upon their splashdown off Florida’s Gulf Coast near Tallahassee, the astronauts were whisked away on stretchers before they could even attempt to stand, underscoring the physical strain of their journey.
Needless to say, the astronauts both looked quite different when landing back on Earth, with both of them rendered immobile for a certain period of time.
The female astronaut Suni Williams looked quite different upon her arrival, and so did her male counterpart Butch Wilmore.
