Before-and-after images show effects space had on NASA astronauts after nine months

NASA astronauts Barry 'Butch' Wilmore and Sunita 'Suni' Williams have safely returned to Earth after their eight day mission on board the International Space Station turned into a nine month stay in space.

While they could have returned at an earlier date if they so desired, it made the most sense for them to remain in space so the ISS could continue to be fully crewed, and the pair have been busy with hundreds of experiments during their extra time off-planet.

Nine months is a long time to spend in space and any period away from the planet is going to start having an impact on the body.

Images of the astronauts being stretchered away after splashing down safely in the sea yesterday (18 March) gave some indication of the changes that can occur to the human body in space.

Before they set off the pair were pictured in June 2024 ahead of what they had expected to be a trip of little over a week in space.

The 'after' images have shown some of what being in space does to the human body.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pictured last year before their eight day mission turned into nine months (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The astronauts were stretchered away, which is completely normal as they've been away from Earth's gravity for a while and their bodies need time to readjust to being out of the weightlessness of space.

Unfortunately, space takes a toll on the human body and like former astronauts before them Wilmore and Williams will need a period of rehabilitation to recover from the effects of the cosmos.

A loss of bone density and muscle mass are two of the most pronounced effects of being in space, as for about every month spent in space an astronaut's bone density drops by about one percent.

They didn't think it was gonna be a long, long time till touchdown brought them round again, but the astronauts will be physically weaker and more fragile than they were when they left.

Barry 'Butch' Wilmore pictured upon his return to planet Earth yesterday (Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images)

Some observers have noticed that the astronauts look a little more gaunt than when they left, which is understandable if they've been losing mass.

Suni Williams has also started showing some grey hair, though images of her on board the ISS from months past also showed this change in her so it can't have been that stressful a splashdown.

The pair are nine months older and have just spent it in an environment which has a pronounced change on the human body, it's only natural they'd look a little different to when they left.

However, the real changes are the ones you can't see.

Suni Williams is back after nine months in space (NASA / Keegan Barber / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Their hearts will have become weaker as the internal organ hasn't had to work as hard to pump blood around their bodies.

Various other fluids will have built up in their head and not drained thanks to gravity, so they may be feeling as though they've caught a cold in space but it'll soon pass now they're back on Earth.

Something they might really have to worry about is what space does to the shape of the human eye, reducing eyesight and weakening their vision.

Meanwhile, that exposure to cosmic radiation will have had an impact on their very DNA, but previous experiments indicate that most of the damage will be repaired within a few months.