NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, after an unexpected stay at the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months, have returned to Earth and splashed down off the coast of Florida early on Wednesday. Along with them were NASA's Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
In a spectacular sight, the astronauts were greeted by a pod of dolphins which rushed to the splasdown spot after the capsule landed off the coast. A video of the same has gone viral on social media, where dolphins surrounded the capsule as the recovery teams worked to retreive crew.
NASA's Johnson Space Center, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video and captioned it, 'The unplanned welcome crew!'.
The post reads, "The unplanned welcome crew! Crew-9 had some surprise visitors after splashing down this afternoon."
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the four astronauts splashed off the coast of Florida.
According to NASA doctors, Williams and Wilmore will need some time to get used to life in gravity. Dr Joe Dervay, one of NASA’s flight surgeons, said the astronauts are in good health.
Although nothing is known about the long-term effects of prolonged exposure to space, astronauts are known to have undergone reversible physical changes even after short durations outside the Earth's atmosphere. Microgravity can cause changes in the physiology of the astronauts, reported CNN.
Among the various risks that astronauts face due to a prolonged space tour are muscle atrophy and muscle dysfunction as muscle fibre size experiences major reduction. However, astronauts took precautions and engaged in regular workouts in space to stay fit.
The risk of bone mass reduction is also there although extensive research on this is unavailable. Bone mass reduction may even lead to premature osteoporosis. However, it is not yet known if a significant reduction in bone mass is reversible.