(NewsNation) — Humans who spend a long time in space, like the two American astronauts expected to return to Earth later this month, can experience a variety of physical changes by the time they get back, two former space travelers can attest.
Perhaps the most bizarre side effect of living in near-weightless conditions involves human feet, or the soles. Astronauts shed the calluses normally associated with walking on terra firma.
“You basically lose the thick part of the skin on your feet. You kind of have baby feet when you come back,” former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao told “NewsNation Prime” on Sunday. “The foot calluses come back very quickly.”
In the early-2000s, he was a commander on the International Space Station, the orbiting research facility where astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have effectively been stranded since last summer. The pair was supposed to be in space for 10 days. A SpaceX ship could retrieve them as soon as March 19.
Other effects, once an astronaut gets home, include dizziness and nausea, Chiao said.
“To me, it feels like kind of like having the flu. It takes a couple of weeks to get back to normal,” he said.
Astronauts serving on the ISS tend to have different physical experiences upon coming home, says Terry Virts, who also served as a commander on the station.
“For me, I felt two things: I felt really heavy and really, really dizzy,” Virts said, adding that his sense of balance improved by the time he recovered.
Once the SpaceX vessel comes for Wilmore and Williams, the actual trip back to Earth — splashing down off Florida — will take less than an hour, Virts said.
