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Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore arrived at the International Space Station in June aboard Boeing’s new Starliner. Their eight-day journey is now likely to continue until February 2025 due to a helium leak and thruster failures before docking.
Boeing insisted the astronauts were not stranded and said there was “no risk” in bringing them back on Starliner, but NASA is considering bringing them back on a SpaceX flight. It has said the astronauts have “adequate supplies” on board the space station.
As NASA is yet to decide if it will keep the two astronauts on board the International Space Station until early next year or find another way, here is how Sunita and Barry will survive in space until 2025:
The International Space Station is 356 feet long from end to end, about the size of an American football field.
The facility has six bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym and a bay window with a 360-degree view. Astronauts Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore and seven others currently live in it.
The space station is equipped with oxygen production systems that can recycle about 50% of the oxygen from exhaled carbon dioxide. Additionally, it has a recycling system that turns moisture from urine and sweat back into water.
Dehydrated and ready-to-eat meals produced by NASA’s Space Food Systems Laboratory in Houston are now available.
In a video aired on NASA’s YouTube channel, astronaut Sunita Williams said that her favorite snack on the station is a jar of Nutter Butter spread, which was a gift to her from her family.
The most recent supply mission, launched by rocket from Kazakhstan on May 30, arrived at the space station on August 6. Crew members can make specific requests to mission control. On August 6, Williams and Wilmore received their personal clothing on the space station.
In a 2012 video, Sunita Williams explained the toilet system on the space station. Astronauts have two separate pipes with suction function for urine and feces.
Although it is possible to sleep on any flat surface in space, astronauts typically use compact, phone-booth-sized pods equipped with a sleeping bag and pillow.
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