NASA Astronauts Stuck In Space | How Does Microgravity Affect Them? | NewsX

what was initially supposed to be an 8-day mission to space has now turned into 8 months for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams they flew to the International Space Station in June aboard the boing's faulty starer capsule and will now be returning to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year during the mission the Starliner propulsion system suffered a series of glitches beginning in the first 24 hours of the flight which led to months of cascading delays five of its 28 thrusters failed and it sprang several leaks of helium which is used to pressurize the thrusters in what is a rare reshuffle the two astronauts are now expected to return on the SpaceX crew Dragon aircraft that is expected to launch next month two of the crew dragons four astronaut seats will be left empty for Wilmore and Williams the big question now is what is a physical and mental health impact of this on Williams and Wilmore and how will this impact them well let's uh quickly listen in first to what NASA has said on this development NASA has decided that Butch and sunny will return with crew n next February uh and that Starliner uh will return uncrewed and the specifics in the schedule will be discussed momentarily uh I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with NASA to get the necessary data to make this decision we want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS joining us live at this point is Dr Suresh nyak former ISRO group director we also have group Captain VJ former uh joint director drdo Li with us also with us is Dr NJ Gara Orthopedics Max Healthcare Dr kle kaker senior psychologist also joins us live Dr Nik let me begin with you first what do you make of this uh latest development these astronauts had gone just for a few days to space they've now been stuck there for months and it seems that they will be until early next year time uh NASA has used the Starliner of the Boeing to for this Mission and there seems to be that problem of helium leak in the uh thrusters and uh there are about 28 thrusters on this module out of which five were found not working but then in the last few days they have been able to repair four of these five one is still not working and boing tried to convince NASA that now I know by you means of ground test and all that that I think we can now get them back but NASA is not convinced fully and they don't want to take any risks so that's why they have decided to use Space X Dragon module for this Rescue Mission because that has been used before for sending uh supplies sending astronauts to there and getting them back so it is a proven thing so now the what is going to happen is first as I think it is been mentioned by you earlier uh the star liner module will be undocked it will they will bring it back to Earth and then uh the SpaceX module Dragon will take off and it will dock with the uh uh ISS and then the astronauts will enter the module and then it will be undocked and then it will be deorbited deorbiting means reducing its velocity after it is launched in the orbit again and how this velocity is reduced I would like to just touch upon it you see there are thrusters on this module and uh these thrusters can be reoriented as you want by by means of a jimble mount and if you want to reduce the velocity then they use retr firing that means reverse Direction firing to do reduce its uh velocity so once it has been changed its direction and then if it is fired then it will be moving with a slower velocity automatically the orbit will come down and then the main engine can be used to increase its return faster and then the re-entry and again coming back to Earth safely these are the steps now what has happened is as I told that in one Thruster uh there is a helium leak and that found you know and what let me tell also to the viewers this helium is required to pressurize the fuel and oxidizer which are stored in a separate tank and this pressurization of these tanks is required because once some fuel or oxidizer is consumed then there will be empty space and unless there is helium it won't Flo so that's why the helium is very important there and helium is used because it is lightweight it is inert it won't react with any other chemicals and at the same time it is something which really has you know atomic weight very small very is less so the because of these things helium is used and it remains in the gaseous State even in the cold and hot temperatures which are involved there uh so because of that the helium is used and then if the helium is leaking it is a very dangerous thing because then you can't change the altitude as orientation uh and attitude as you required so that is why NASA has decided to uh not to use a star liner module to bring them back but send SpaceX Dragon module uh for that particular thing uh so that is the basic technological part of it thank you yes let me take that to group Captain J as well group Captain J what do you believe was uh that fundamental flaw which has caused this massive delay uh and uh how is it going to work now how is their rescue actually going to to work now on board uh this uh this new vessel which will be going into space early next year thank you there very much for your question look space human space program is a very very uh tricky issue I have written a book almost about 3 years back about the human space program the intricacies of it all aspects of it and when Star laner problem had happened uh after launching on June uh 5th 6 uh this year I had written one article and also sent it to NASA as well as to the SpaceX the to topic was NASA boing May sent Space X crew Dragon to bring back the standed astronauts and the reason for this was that there's a basic rule in space launches for the human programs human space missions that should you have the slight of the problem encountered before launch you must not launch that unless it is some emergency the the the boing star liner didn't have any emergency to be launched with the faulty thrusters that it had and remember there was only one Thruster which which had the leak here on the ground before launch being launched and that to a very minor leak which possibly the thought that it should go on with this but what happened after being launched the pressure differential that increased with the exterior in the space there is no pressure here on the on Earth we have got 14.7 PSI pressure so with this pressure differential more and more thrusters became uh unserviceable now this has this is very difficult to explain why the thrusters almost five of them became unserviceable during The crucial period of being docked you know NASA has got only two points for the docking at the ISS has got only two points of docking with the NASA port and three points of docking with the Russian jda or uh NOA that they have so Russian things are right now empty their uh NASA ports whether it is Boing or it is the Space X cannot Port one is already docked there as a emergency return to Earth so there is only one port empty and for that one port empty also uh Space X had sent their crew dragon with the supplies about I think 3 weeks or four weeks back so right now there's no space for them to uh send another crew dragon now look uh the the uh boing say uh crew model which had gone there there is no guarantee that more thrusters will not fail and you know that I would like to explain to your viewers the International Space Station is about 400 plus kilometers above the Earth and when we have got a crew model which has to come back to the Earth so it as Mr nyak had explained to you that first it decouples then it is reduced in the velocity remember it is revolving the Earth at about 12.5 Mac of the Velocity about 7.6 km second it's hell of so when this particular model in which the crew will be there is decoupled and decelerated it is being pulled by Earth and in that process velocity increases further at the time of Entry to the atmosphere velocity is as much as 25 Mac or so should this velocity go exceed slightly further 27 or 28c there is a there's a possibility of the crew Dragon coming up there in the atmosphere and then slipping off you know it will go back to the space so such possibility is there if the trajectory of return to the Earth is not proper which is being made by these thrusters no or many many of the thrusters these thrusters have got very small maneuverability with which it can be maneuvered some thrusters which is firing in the X line can be made to fire slightly Plus or us 5 to 10° or so but not much so there is a very uh special need for all this thrusters to be working as it should be to guide the trajectory unless otherwise there is a possibility of it going off now these crew models have got the limited resources they can they can survive for a day a day and a half or two in that crew model say you can call it the crew or the start line which is gone there should it slip off to the space again it may not come for next many days back to the Earth for the entry so all these possibilities are there and that is why uh most of the scientists even NASA had suggested that let us send the crew Dragon uh for the crew to be brought here and the repair of inc2 repair of the star liner which is stuck there it is a bleak possibility unless it is model in the design all these spares go from Earth from the boing to the to the International Space Station and they are able to do that particular repair it's not easy no Willam or B they are not trained into repairing this particular ster of course they are trained in staying about ISS for many months that is possible but you know no one goes to spend time on the ISS if there's a particular task research for these research these crew are G special training here on the ground and particular task they perform in the ISS so that is the type of you know need of staying there and there is a very costly amounting to about 12.5 lakh or so per day that is the resources that they consume so it's a very very costly business of keeping an astronaut their afloat ISS so all said about it I like to you know wind up by saying that this particular step of NASA was required on the very first thought that they should have tied up with the SpaceX sent the crew Dragon uh with the crew model which has got the EC and LSS uh you know environmental control and the life support system with this they should have sent it there and got the crew back as far as the the the uh disabled star liner is concerned that can come back to the Earth without crew should it cat fire or should it you know slip off into the atmosphere into the space again that is uh you know that that can be written off for it to cry off but in case if it comes back yes they should be able to analiz that what was gone wrong and what should be done so these are the possibilities with what with what they should have gone there there okay let me quickly bring in now Dr n Gara Dr n Gara uh so many weak weeks and now months in space what is the impact of all of this on the health of these two astronots yeah good evening all so the most important thing whenever someone goes to the space is the uh there because there is no gravity these people are under the effect of micro gravity there so what happens because of the micro gravity there is sudden loss in the bone mass as well as the muscle mass and it all happen because whenever we are on when we are on Earth because of the gravity the weightbearing mus bones which are basically the long bones in the leg and the uh thigh area so the muscles around them are on a continuous pull so but in the space that pull is not there and because of that pull is not there the calcium absorption from the uh in the uh uh bone so it basically leads to sudden depletion which is equivalent to a disease known as osteopenia which basically happens in the uh later life and it is all because of the weakness of the bone and all these all both of these astronauts are at a high risk of getting fractures and uh losing bone mass but yeah they are trained to do all kind of exercises physical activity but because of the micro gravity these things happen at a very fast rate and if we go by the books it it says that around 1 to 2% of the bone mass as well as the muscle mass is lost about uh in a month month month or so and they are staying for for another I guess uh8 months this will again leads to depletion of the bone mass and the calcium and all those things from their body and the weakness and the chances of again getting the fractures are very very high now and U not only on the the effect is on the muscle mass and the bone mass the effect is also on uh the kidney system so because of increased uh loss of calcium from the bone it leads to more chances of getting kidney stones specifically when you are in the space because the kid the there is distribution of the fluid as well so because of this distribution of the fluid in a different manner so the fluid is not much in the lower part of the body it is mainly in the upper part of the body so the kidney the kidneys are not able to filter all the calcium that is basically getting secreted from the bone due to the bone loss and so the chances of developing kidney stones and pains because of that are very very high and also the effect of the mental health is also there and the chances the uh dose of radiation that we basically receive on the earth is very very less as compared to the dose that they are uh getting there on a daily basis but there are some Protections in the uh craft by which it is reduced but it is not up to that extent but the main effect which they will be having from an orthopedic point of view will be on their bone mass as well as the bone health and muscle mass so the chances of all these kind of fractures are very high and most some of these bones do have some kind of a permanent damage like there's a bone in leg tibia which is a long bone another long bone so if there is depletion of bone bone health bone mass in that particular bone then that is basically permanent so all other areas of the body can regain their quality once they come back here and do some the protocol which basically NASA has a strict regime for them but the tibia suffers the most and if we see the ratio which bone is mostly affected it is the number one is hip the second is spine and the third is the long bones which is femur and the tibia and the chances of fractures are very very high so they have to do lots of exercise and the idea which the NASA has suggested on their uh health health record side is that they need to do at least 5 to six hours of strict protocol uh regime on a daily basis to you know decrease this bone and uh muscle mass loss on a daily basis thank you okay also Dr Kil kaker senior psychologist if I can quickly bring you in here on the aspect of mental health uh because you know uh physical health is something something we've just spoken about with Dr gar obviously will be affected by the fact that they are in space what about mental health uh how difficult is it being in that enclosed space for weeks and months on end and now also coupled with the delay after delay news coming to the two astronauts as well Dr Kaka see these people astronauts are very well trained psychologically they are subjected to several uh adverse situations and super adverse situations and they are expected to rehearse and keep repeating those kind of things over and over again so as far as them uh coming up with any situation in front of them they are primarily they are able to their coping of mechanism is excellent now what happens in this primarily if I talk about this particular case even if you know like Sita Williams she's a veteran in this now the two factors which would impact them one is uh the health and second is the age like when even if the experience that Sunita William has had in the past and she went only for eight days and now she's stuck there the question here is that will she will her age be with her on this so that is and that primarily can drive into depression anxiety things like that but like I said these people are so well trained mentally they are trained they have to do a lot of mental exercises before they basically are cleared for this that they are prepared for any kind of situation now the thing which is not primarily in their hand for example the doctor was just talking about the mass and the bones how bones can be impacted similarly the brain cells can be impacted the brain the tissues in the brain are impacted and when they are impacted Ed of that is primarily not in their control because it's a natural phenomenon having said that if NASA has decided these people can stay there till February they must have collated like you initially said they have collated the data and they have understood that perhaps these people can prolong their this time for another 6 months uh I'm I'm sure they would have taken care of all the psychological and the physical aspect and one more thing like you also had said that they have to ensure that these people are occupied all the time they do not get much time uh much idle time because it is the idle time which is going to have an impact with on them second is that how well are they able to sleep in case if there are certain anxiety issues then they will not have sound sleep and that eventually invariably will again have an impact on them so these are lot of so there's lot of combination peration in terms of the input being given by NASA the the new kind of assignments if they have those assignments which I read somewhere that they would be putting them for further research and development if they can do all this so I'm sure seasoned people like these they will not have any problem except something which is not in their hand for example their health their brain tissues uh which tend to deteriorate very quickly so these are the kind of things which perhaps one can be concerned about yes all right and you know how does one uh yes okay uh group Captain J wants to quickly react yes group Captain J go ahead Dr n had mentioned to you very clearly the problems of demonization of the bone or loss of muscle mass but what happens you know when these people go for a longer stay people have stayed over a year you know many months over the year they have stayed there and they're used to it there's a treadmill there on board into for which they they stra themselves and then they exercise do the exercise almost about four to 5 hours per day that they do do but you know you have uh and the previous psychologist has raised a very important question if they are able to uh maintain their calmness sleep particular pass of it and the anxiety part of it control look they have been trained to that sleep is a problem you know uh there in the space uh it is not a night sleep like what we have 12 hours or 10 hours there every 90 minute uh the ISS makes one Checker of the earth and so day and night happens within that particular time in that within that 90 minutes so uh conditions within the ISS is conial they they close all the windows when they go for sleep at least for the place where they uh go to go for sleep they strap themselves they they cure themselves the all the windows are covered they try to sleep it is not as easy it is there and especially Sunita and book who had gone apparently for seven days or eight days now they are getting stuck for you know that many months surely there will be a matter of anxiety but then you know the are the people the are the astronauts who have been trained earlier to stay over here there so that is how they are there okay for more such videos subscribe to the newsx YouTube channel hit the Bell icon [Music]