“Sunita Williams’ Extended Space Mission: NASA’s Compensation for 9-Month Stay”
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, two NASA astronauts, were supposed to stay in space for only eight days but ended up staying for nine months because their spacecraft, Boeing Starliner, had technical problems. They finally returned to Earth on Tuesday aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom. They were originally sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2024, but their return was delayed because of issues with their spacecraft. NASA had to organize a rescue mission, and two other astronauts, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Grebyonkin, joined them in December. Now that they are back on Earth, NASA will monitor their health to help them adjust to normal life. Scientists will also study their time in space to learn more about how the human body reacts to long stays in zero gravity.