{"id":24212,"date":"2025-03-18T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24212"},"modified":"2025-03-18T13:26:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T13:26:43","slug":"williams-and-wilmore-are-not-the-first-astronauts-to-have-been-stuck-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24212","title":{"rendered":"Williams and Wilmore Are Not the First Astronauts to Have Been Stuck in Space"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally on their way back to Earth after nine months at the International Space Station. But they were not the first to stay unexpectedly in space (much) longer than planned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Here are some other notable examples:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"css-1le37cb ez3869y0\">\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">On May 18, 1991, Sergei Krikalev set off into space for a stay at the Mir, the Soviet Union\u2019s space station at the time. While Mr. Krikalev was up there, the Soviet Union disbanded, and he was asked to extend his stay by almost five months, in part a result of the country\u2019s disintegration and money problems in Moscow. (The episode turned Mr. Krikalev into a bit of a media celebrity, earning him the nickname \u201cthe last Soviet citizen\u201d). He <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1992\/03\/26\/world\/after-313-days-in-space-it-s-a-trip-to-a-new-world.html\" title>stayed in space for 313 days<\/a>, returning on March 25, 1992.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">In 2003, three astronauts \u2014 Ken Bowersox and Donald Pettit, both American, and Nikolai Budarin, a Russian \u2014 had to prolong their stay on the relatively new International Space Station by about three months. While they were in space, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/02\/02\/us\/loss-of-the-shuttle-the-overview-shuttle-breaks-up-7-dead.html\" title>NASA space shuttle disintegrated<\/a> as it re-entered Earth\u2019s atmosphere and killed all seven astronauts on board in an incident that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/feb-1-its-been-20-years-since-the-space-shuttle-columbia-disaster.html\" title>became known as the Columbia disaster<\/a>. As a safety measure, NASA suspended its space shuttle flights. Eventually, after more than five months in space, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/05\/05\/world\/soyuz-lands-off-course-after-error-or-a-glitch.html\" title>the three astronauts landed back on Earth<\/a> in a Russian capsule in May 2003. (Dr. Pettit, now 69, returned to the space station aboard a Russian vehicle last fall for another stay, and is scheduled to return to Earth in April.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">In 2022, the American astronaut Frank Rubio headed to the International Space Station for a six-month stay. Instead, he stayed just over a year \u2014 371 days \u2014 in what became <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/09\/20\/science\/nasa-frank-rubio-space-record.html\" title>the longest single spaceflight for a U.S. astronaut<\/a>. In December 2022, after <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/15\/science\/space\/russia-nasa-spacewalk-canceled.html\" title>coolant leaked<\/a> from the Russian spacecraft that was to be used to bring Mr. Rubio home, his return trip was delayed while <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/11\/science\/nasa-space-station-soyuz.html\" title>a different spacecraft was sent<\/a> to pick up him and two Russian astronauts. Like people serving in the military, \u201cYou kind of grow up with the mind set of, \u2018You have to be ready for the unexpected,\u2019\u201d he said in an interview last August, \u201cbecause that\u2019s a very common thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally on their way back to Earth after nine months at the International Space Station. But they were not the first to stay unexpectedly in space (much) longer than planned.Here are some other notable examples:On May 18, 1991, Sergei Krikalev set off into space for a stay at the Mir, the Soviet Union\u2019s space station at the time. While Mr. Krikalev was up there, the Soviet Union disbanded, and he was asked to extend his stay by almost five months, in part a result of the country\u2019s disintegration and money problems in Moscow. (The episode turned Mr. Krikalev into a bit of a media celebrity, earning him the nickname \u201cthe last Soviet citizen\u201d). He stayed in space for 313 days, returning on March 25, 1992.In 2003, three astronauts \u2014 Ken Bowersox and Donald Pettit, both American, and Nikolai Budarin, a Russian \u2014 had to prolong their stay on the relatively new International Space Station by about three months. While they were in space, a NASA space shuttle disintegrated as it re-entered Earth\u2019s atmosphere and killed all seven astronauts on board in an incident that became known as the Columbia disaster. As a safety measure, NASA suspended its space shuttle flights. Eventually, after more than five months in space, the three astronauts landed back on Earth in a Russian capsule in May 2003. (Dr. Pettit, now 69, returned to the space station aboard a Russian vehicle last fall for another stay, and is scheduled to return to Earth in April.)In 2022, the American astronaut Frank Rubio headed to the International Space Station for a six-month stay. Instead, he stayed just over a year \u2014 371 days \u2014 in what became the longest single spaceflight for a U.S. astronaut. In December 2022, after coolant leaked from the Russian spacecraft that was to be used to bring Mr. Rubio home, his return trip was delayed while a different spacecraft was sent to pick up him and two Russian astronauts. Like people serving in the military, \u201cYou kind of grow up with the mind set of, \u2018You have to be ready for the unexpected,\u2019\u201d he said in an interview last August, \u201cbecause that\u2019s a very common thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24214,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24215,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24212\/revisions\/24215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}