18 Mar 2025

What does space do to the human body?

From Nights, 8:30 pm on 18 March 2025

Two stranded astronauts who have spent 285 days orbiting the Earth are now on their way home.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are set to return to terra firma tomorrow morning NZ time.

To pass the time, the pair has kept busy conducting repairs on the station, venturing outside on spacewalks, and generally trying to keep fit. But how will their bodies cope with such a long time in zero gravity?

Emile talks to Dr Brian Russell, a former NASA researcher and expert on human physical performance in space, now a research associate at AUT's Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand.

In this still image taken from a NASA TV broadcast, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni Williams hold a news conference from the International Space Station (ISS) on September 13, 2024. Wilmore and Williams, who arrived at the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner, will return home with rival SpaceX in February 2025, NASA has said. (Photo by Handout / NASA TV / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA TV" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Photo: AFP PHOTO / NASA TV