Protocol NASA astronauts finally heading home will have to follow when they return to Earth on SpaceX rocket

It's been nine long months for NASA's 'stranded' astronauts, but they're finally on their way back to Earth after what they believed would be an eight-day mission.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore first set off to the International Space Station in June 2024.

However, they ran into trouble when their new Boeing Starliner capsule - that launched them into space and was supposed to bring them home - experienced thruster failures and helium leaks.

The pair have been up in space ever since, while NASA worked on returning them to Earth.

However, a development in recent months saw Elon Musk assisting in the venture, with a joint SpaceX and NASA mission finally setting off from the ISS for a 17-hour journey home in the early hours of Tuesday morning (18 March).

Just a couple of days prior, a SpaceX capsule docked with the ISS and brought four new crew members on board as part of the Crew-10 complement.

It meant space had been made for Wilmore and Williams to depart the ISS along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

When they do return, the astronauts will need to undergo a period of rehabilitation so their bodies can readjust to gravity once more.

A NASA spokesperson previously told LADbible: "All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health."

When they do touch down, they must go through a pretty strict protocol after spending so many days up in space.

According to LiveScience, once the astronauts land back on Earth, they will be carried from the spacecraft via a stretcher.

"A lot of them don't want to be brought out on a stretcher, but they're told they have to be," said John DeWitt, former senior scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

This is because many astronauts struggle to walk once they return to Earth's atmosphere.

They can also suffer from dizziness and nausea, with DeWitt explaining that transporting them via a stretcher is often a precautionary safety measure.

According to ABC News, the astronauts will then be flown to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston where they will spend several days undergoing health checks.

Once they have been signed off, they will be able to go home to their families, which we expect will be a pretty emotional reunion.

Although Williams and Wilmore haven't hit the record for the longest time spent in space, they've still been up there for a significant chunk of time, and doctors have issued warnings about how this could impact their health.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dr Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist and Air Force veteran, said the astronauts will likely need at least six weeks of rehabilitation to regain their strength, which will include guided exercise and a nutritional plan.

He said: "The human body needs the Earth's gravitational pull, and in an absence of that, a lot of things are not functioning correctly. The reality is, they're effectively getting a fraction of the sort of exercise that we all take for granted just by walking in [Earth's] gravity.

"Invariably, despite them doing all the right things (which I know they are) you're going to see a decrease in muscle mass and strength — no question."