STRANDED in the International Space Station, over 200 miles from Earth, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been told they may not be rescued until February 2025.
The American duo – who were initially due to spend just eight days in space – will now have to sit it out for eight months due to helium leaks in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that dropped them there in June.
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Now British astronaut Meganne Christian, who is part of the UK Space Agency’s reserve team for a mission to space, has shared her insight into exactly what Butch, 61, and Suni, 58, will be going through on board the isolated ISS.
Meganne, 36, says that the pair will have no showers, drink recycled urine and face radiation during their extended stay.
Meganne says: “Suni and Butch were prepared for a long duration mission should it happen. Space is hard, that is the line that we always take.”
The British scientist knows all about being stranded in an isolated research lab with little hope of immediate rescue – even though she’s yet to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.
From 2018 to 2019, she lived on a remote research station in Antarctica nicknamed White Mars – nearly 400 miles from civilisation, further than the space station, which is 248 miles away.
Here she reveals the everyday trials of the ISS inhabitants.
Grim recycling
Suni and Butch were on a test flight, trying out the Starliner for the first time with humans on board.
The US space agency Nasa is now carrying out tests to decide whether it is safe for them to fly back on the Boeing or if they’ll need to come back on one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX vehicles, due to arrive in February.
And living on the Space Station is not easy.
At the moment nine people are sharing the two bathrooms and six sleeping quarters in the ISS.
Food and water supplies, which are delivered from Earth, have to be carefully managed.
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The liquids that go out of the body – mainly urine – need to be retained via the Water Recovery System and used again.
Sweat and exhaled moisture are also caught and recycled.
Meganne explains: “You have to reuse and recycle as much as possible. They say ‘yesterday’s coffee is today’s coffee.’
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“That sounds disgusting. But by the time it gets to you it’s just pure water again.”
A special suction type toilet is able to collect the bodily fluids which would otherwise float about in microgravity.
Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to live on the ISS, explained: “We pee into a hose that has a conical-shaped receptacle with a switch on the side.
“For a number two, there is a rather petite loo seat secured on top of a solid waste container. Attached is a rubberised bag with an elasticated opening.”
He also revealed that a crewmate once told everyone “to keep an eye out” for a number two which had gone missing.
At least the food sounds slightly more appetising than the coffee.
Meganne continues: “The food is kind of normal food but the mass and volume is reduced as much as possible.”
The meals are dehydrated to minimise the size and water is added again prior to eating.
Odour issues
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The odour of the ISS doesn’t sound too pleasant.
Meganne smiles: “There are no showers. There are ways to wash yourself. You basically use a sort of wet towel with a bit of soap on it.
“You can only take a certain amount of clothing with you, so really, astronauts only change their clothes once per week.”
You have to reuse and recycle as much as possible. They say ‘yesterday’s coffee is today’s coffee
Meganne, Astronaught
That, though, is not the worst aspect of a life orbiting Earth at five miles per second.
Outside of Earth’s magnetic field, humans are no longer protected from space radiation.
The Space Station does have shields to reduce harmful rays but the levels are far higher than down here.
Meganne says: “The amount of time that astronauts can spend in space is restricted by the amount of radiation that they’re receiving.”
Health impacts
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Reduced gravity means our muscles don’t have to do as much work, which can damage an astronaut’s health.
Meganne warns: “The longer you’re out there up in space the more harm it does to your body. It really is accelerated ageing, in a way.
“The fact that you’re not working against gravity means that your muscles are not working as hard as they usually would, and of course your heart is also a muscle.
“You also lose bone density during that time and you also have an increased risk of kidney stones, diabetes and there also tend to be problems with your eyes.”
But she says: “Most of these things return to normal once you get back to Earth.”
There is a gym in the ISS to help keep the muscles busy, with astronauts asked to spend between 90 minutes and two hours per day, six days a week doing exercise.
One unusual consequence of floating in space is the effect on the feet.
“We hardly use the soles of our feet on ISS so they become very soft, like a baby’s,” Tim Peake revealed.
“The gross part is that all the dead, hard skin starts coming off.”
Their body clocks also have to get used to the sun setting and rising every 90 minutes.
The whole crew is expected to muck in with the chores, such as cleaning and maintenance.
Meganne says: “Everybody gets the vacuum cleaners and that kind of thing out on a Saturday and puts the music on and checks the filters for anything that’s flown into them during the week.”
But there is down time and each astronaut has a small sleeping space with enough room for a personal computer.
Mission to Mars
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If the team needs to evacuate the football field sized base orbiting Earth, they’d have more chance than Meganne did when she was based at Concordia – where temperatures dip to minus 100, making it impossible for any plane or helicopter to reach.
Meganne tells The Sun: “It’s actually more isolated, in a way, than the International Space Station, because you could rescue someone from there if you had to in the course of a couple of days, whereas in Antarctica, at Concordia Station, you’re waiting for months.
“It’s more like a mission to Mars in that respect. And, in fact, Concordia, where I was, is also known as White Mars.”
The longer you’re out there up in space the more harm it does to your body. It really is accelerated ageing, in a way.
Meganne Christian
The Kent born scientist, who grew up in New Zealand and has passports from four different nations, is just one of 17 astronauts chosen to be part of the European Space Agency’s new intake.
Meganne, who works for the UK Space Agency, was up against 22,500 candidates wishing to experience space travel.
They all had to go through rigorous health and psychological testing.
Anyone with a desire to depart the safety of Earth, like Butch and Suni did, needs to be willing to take a risk, but only an extremely well calculated one.
Meganne explains: “During the selection process they do ask you whether you want to go to Mars. And I think they want people to say ‘yes, provided the technology is where it needs to be, and that it’s a mission that is at least intended to return to Earth.’”
What is the ISS?
Here’s what you need to know about the International Space Station (ISS).
- The International Space Station is a large spacecraft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go up there to complete scientific missions
- Many countries worked together to build it and they work together to use it
- It is made up of many pieces, which astronauts had to send up individually on rockets and put together from 1998 to 2000
- Ever since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS
- Nasa uses the station to learn about living and working in space
- It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet just like a satellite
- Living inside the ISS is said to be like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window for viewing Earth
Isolation on earth
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Suni might be better suited to a longer stay in the ISS because some research suggests women can handle it better than men.
The Nasa record for days in space is held by Peggy Whitson who has done 665 days up there in total, although Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka managed 878 days.
Meganne says: “There have been some studies to show that for several reasons, women might be more suited to space travel ranging from less weight to take into space to certain physiological and psychological aspects.”
She needed mental strength during her time in remote Antarctica.
Meganne recalls: “I was there for a whole year. The first time during the summer season, which is from November to January, we had up to about 90 people on the base.
“But then, for those nine months when we were completely isolated, and nobody could come in and rescue us if something went wrong there were 13 of us.
“We got down to minus 104°C wind chill and once you get below about minus 50 degrees nothing can really work there. You certainly can’t get aeroplanes in.”
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Meganne hasn’t been up to the 356 feet long ISS, which has been inhabited since November 2000, but she’s prepped and ready should that call come.
The young hopeful says: “It’s a huge dream for me to go to the International Space Station. They’re making really exciting scientific and technological developments there.”