
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the U.S. astronauts left on the International Space Station last year by Boeing's troubled Starliner capsule, are on the up after returning to Earth in March, emerging from weeks of physical therapy to ramp up work with Boeing and various NASA programs.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-astronauts-butch-suni-emerge-001601293.html
3 Comments
So, for anyone that didn’t read the article, they were doing regular work-duties on the Starliner program during their rehabilitation period. They only spend two hours a day on physical rehab. Remember while on the station astronauts spend a couple hours each day strength training so they don’t lose all their muscle mass, but there are lots of little muscle groups only used in balancing that are difficult to maintain with even the advanced exercise equipment on the ISS. I imagine a lot of the rehab is just a matter of time, but the dedicated physical therapy just accelerates that process.
>Wilmore and Williams, …, have had to readapt their muscles, sense of balance and other basics of Earth living in a 45-day period **standard for astronauts returning from long-term space missions.**
From the article:
> Reflying Starliner uncrewed “seems like the logical thing to do,” Williams said
It is good to hear Suni Williams advocate that. Let’s hope Boeing does a proper job of re-engineering the doghouses then have a nominal uncrewed test flight with no significant issues before Starliner flies humans again.