The astronauts stranded in space for eight months (Tom Hartley)
In short:
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were supposed to be on a week-long trip to the International Space Station.
Their Boeing Starliner space capsule failed its first voyage, leaving them stranded at the space station.
What next?
NASA says it will not bring Captain Williams and Commander Wilmore back to Earth until February, aboard a Space X flight.
Some professions come with risk. Some defy death.
"The job of professional astronauts is to recognise 'this might kill me,'" Colonel Chris Hadfield told 7.30.
"But I think spaceflight is worth it, and that's why I risked my life three times."
Colonel Chris Hadfield landed in Kazakhstan when he returned from the International Space Station in 2013. (Reuters: Mikhail Metzel)
His comments come as NASA announced two of its astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will spend an unscheduled nine months on the ISS, after their Boeing-built spacecraft failed its first crewed voyage.
Colonel Hadfield would know. He achieved stardom while commanding the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013, when his cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity went viral.
Chris Hadfield's rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity
Colonel Hadfield has flown in three missions, helped to build two space stations, performed two spacewalks, crewed the Shuttle and Soyuz, and in 2013 became the commander of the International Space Station for six months off-planet.
"It is a fantastic human experience, going around the world 16 times a day, seeing our entire planet without a filter," he said.
The retired astronaut and author spoke to 7.30 about the physiological and psychological endurance required to survive long stays in space.
Life aboard the ISS
Commander Wilmore and Captain Williams will not be brought back to Earth until February 2025. (AP: NASA)
"The space station's about the size of a large six-bedroom house," ANU Astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker told 7.30.
"So there's room, but a lot of that room is taken up with equipment.
"It does get cozy, it does wear you down."
Since docking, Commander Wilmore and Captain Williams have had to share the tight space, and supplies, with the existing international crew.
"The ISS has six beds and two bathrooms, but because there's no gravity, you don't need a bed: the definition of a bed or a bedroom is kind of arbitrary," Colonel Hadfield told 7.30.
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft docked to the International Space Station. (AP: NASA)
"The limitation of the Space Station is how much air can it process and purify, how quickly can it recycle the water?" he said.
"We recycle almost 100 per cent of the water, and we have great stocks of food up there, like a year's worth of food."
But with two unscheduled additions, NASA bosses have planned to send more supplies.
"No one has had to go on a diet or calorie restrictions, so we haven't had any limitations there," NASA's ISS program manager Dana Weigel told reporters on Saturday.
There are also plenty of extra supplies, should astronauts need them.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore before boarding the Boeing Starliner on June 5. (AP: Chris O'Meara)
"And then for clothing, we keep a big supply of undergarments — there's socks and underwear and T-shirts and stuff like that," Colonel Hadfield said.
"And because you're floating weightless, they're not being ground into your body to pick up the sweat and oils of your body.
"I wore the same pair of trousers in space for almost the entire time, and when I finished, they were just as clean as if they'd been hanging in a closet."
Risk of 'untold consequences'
Dr Brad Tucker says spending so long in space could have health consequences for the astronauts. (Supplied: Tracey Nearmy/ANU)
The weightlessness of space can also be extremely harmful, especially to minds and bodies.
ANU Astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker told 7.30 there were a "huge amount" of health effects.
"On a two-week mission, there's small but long-term effects — six months in space, we already know that that's the equivalent of 20 years' worth of bone density loss; your brain chemistry and physiology changes," Dr Tucker told 7.30.
"It takes about three years for every six months in space to get that back, and those are the simple things."
NASA plans to send more supplies to the International Space Station for the stranded astronauts. (NASA)
NASA studies have shown astronauts can suffer from increased radiation exposure, vision problems and muscle atrophy after several months on the ISS.
"For Butch and Suni, that is going to have untold consequences for their future," Dr Tucker said.
Ms Weigel admitted NASA doesn't know "how long is too long" for astronauts to spend in space but says there are no specific concerns for a period of "up to a year".
"We can tell you that we understand what 12 months does, we're interested in that for Moon to Mars, and those are some of our research objectives and what we're trying to learn in the microgravity environment," she said.
'Every day is one more gift'
Colonel Chris Hadfield says travelling to space is worth the risk. (720 ABC Perth: Emma Wynne)
Colonel Hadfield told 7.30 it took a lifetime of preparation to be a career astronaut and that both Commander Wilmore and Captain Williams would be well-prepared for any challenges they may face.
"We don't randomly choose people and then put them on a rocket ship and send them to the space station," he told 7.30.
"The selection process for professional astronauts is extremely exacting, and [in] one of the recent NASA applications, 18,000 people applied for 10 positions.
Colonel Chris Hadfield juggling tomatoes aboard the International Space Station in 2013. (Reuters: NASA)
"They [must] also have the right psychology and physiology to be able to serve an entire career.
"I think there's a difference of perception for a lot of people who don't train and commit their lives to being professional astronauts, it's actually what we seek, and every day in space is one more gift."
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