The family of Sunita Williams has revealed hidden struggles in heartbreaking emails the astronaut sent during her 286 days stranded in space.
NASA astronauts Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore embarked on what was meant to be an eight-day mission back in June 2024.
However, that ended up stretching over nine months after their spacecraft experienced multiple failures and it was deemed too unsafe for the return flight.
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The astronauts were forced to wait until March 18, 2025, when they hitched a ride home with a SpaceX crew.
And while the astronauts appeared to be putting on a brave face while they spent months stranded in space, Williams’ family have revealed the hidden struggles she reportedly faced.
The Daily Mail reported on an interview Williams’ sister, Dina Annad, had with local news station WCNC.
During the chat, she shared the context of private emails sent between the pair while Williams was in space.
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In the email, Williams wrote: “You forget that in space you’re not holding hands you’re not hugging people.”
Williams’ cousin, Falguni Pandya, added: “We are constantly meeting on Microsoft software, celebrating holidays together and we sent her gifts, cards and photographs. We are constantly in touch.
“She talks to her mother about every day.”
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Williams’ mother, Bonnie Pandya, also shared a message after her daughter safely splashed down on Earth just off the coast of Florida.
She said: “We missed you a lot, but with you keeping in touch with everybody and all of us, the family, we didn’t miss that much but just enough.”
The astronauts arrived home earlier this week after spending nearly 10 months on the International Space Station.
They were seen emerging from the SpaceX Dragon capsule before being lifted onto stretchers and taken for medical examinations, which is usual protocol when returning from space.
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In a press conference later that night, the manager at NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, Steve Stich, shared that both Williams and Wimore were doing ‘great’.
Spending long periods of time in space can take its toll on the human body so it’s expected that it will take some time for the pair to recover from their 286 days in orbit.
That being said, while many experts believed that the astronauts would not be able to walk for the first few days of their return, Williams was pictured standing on two feet later that same day of her arrival back on Earth.