NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams: What’s next for no-longer stranded astronauts

Stranded NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams’ space odyssey is finally over after 286 days but the fallout from their gruelling mission is only just beginning.

An exhausting regime of tests and rehabilitation, family reunions, and, of course, a visit to the White House to meet Donald Trump are all on the agenda in the next weeks and months.

The pair blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5, 2024 to what NASA calls ”humanity’s home in space” — the International Space Station, about 400km above Earth.

It was meant to be a relatively quick trip of eight days, testing Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on the first crewed flight.

As we now know, though, thruster failures and helium leaks left them without a way back to Earth until this week’s rescue mission aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, nine months later.

Soon after touching down on Tuesday, Wilmore, 62, and Williams, 59, were taken to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they are expected to spend the next few days having their physical and mental health assessed by the medical team.

They will then be allowed to return home to their families and begin a 45-day reconditioning program to help them readjust to life back on Earth and return their physical performance safely and progressively to their pre-flight baseline.

That program will involve two hours of physical therapy every day with specialised trainers, and include exercises that improve their mobility, balance, flexibility, aerobic conditioning, strength, endurance, and the body’s ability to sense its position and movement.

Most crew members reach their pre-flight fitness baseline within the first 45 days of returning to Earth, according to NASA.

Although it is not uncommon for reconditioning programs to be extended to meet an astronaut’s specific needs.

“Crews have previously spent longer durations in space, and Suni Williams and Butch Willmore’s performance after their return is expected to be consistent with established norms,” a NASA spokesperson told the New York Post.

White House visit

Also on their agenda in the shorter term will be a trip to the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump.

“They have to get better,” Mr Trump said.

“It will be a little bit tough for them. It’s not easy, you know. They were up for a long time and when they do, they will come to the Oval office.”

Spending so long in space in near zero gravity and no fresh air is hard on the body.

There’s bone density loss and muscle wasting from months spent not having to bear weight. Dizziness and poor balance can make walking more challenging than usual.

A weakened heart, swollen eyeballs and changes to vision due to low gravity-induced changes in circulation are also known health challenges faced by returning astronauts.

While Wilmore and William’s mission exceeds the average time of six months that NASA astronauts usually spend in space, it there’s is not the longest continuous stay.

That honour belongs to Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov who set the world record in 1995, spending 437 days, 17 hours, and 38 minutes on the Mir space station orbiting the Earth.

Family reunions

No doubt Wilmore and Williams were keen to reunite with their families.

Wilmore’s teenage daughter Daryn has been keeping her followers updated on TikTok, sharing in her last video her excitement as he was about to touch down back on Earth.

She said that his family were not planning a big celebration for when he finally returned to his home in Tennessee, rather a small get-together with close friends and family.

“I’m making him his favourite dessert, which is pecan pie,” she said.

She’s also made a list of his favourite things and things they used to do together, which she plans on checking off before she heads back to college.

But she’s well aware he will still be undergoing tests during his first few days back on earth, saying he is “still technically a part of the experiment of human space flight” and it would take time to get re-acclimated.

Williams’ family said they were happy she was back on solid ground and are looking forward to spending time together, including going on holiday and a visit to India, her father’s ancestral land, sometime this year.

Was it worth it?

After nine months in space Wilmore and Williams have no doubt racked up a lot of overtime, so what will they be paid for their unexpectedly long space sojourn? Probably less than you think and certainly less than they deserve after their mission went sideways.

Their base salary is believed to be between $US125,000-$163,000 a year. On top of that they could be in line for more. The federal travel allowance is $178 a day.

The New York Post has estimated they could get between $1148 and $51,000 additional pay, depending on whether they get incidental pay or a higher per diem rate for travel.