Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore finally have a return date after spending almost 10 months in space. However, setting foot on Earth won't be as easy for the two of them after they are back home because of the effects of space on their body. A former NASA astronaut says walking can get tough for some time, with the weightlessness of space throwing you off balance.

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Astronauts who return to Earth after spending a lot of time tend to develop baby feet, former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao told “NewsNation Prime”. This means that they shed the calluses on their soles which are linked to walking on solid ground.

“You basically lose the thick part of the skin on your feet. You kind of have baby feet when you come back,” Chiao said. 

However, he added that it is nothing to worry about as they return pretty quickly. “The foot calluses come back very quickly.”

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Chiao has commandeered the ISS in the early 2000s and knows what it feels like to be there and then back home. 

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He says that besides baby feet, dizziness and nausea are the other two issues astronauts face after returning. Chiao drew similarities between coming back to Earth and the flu, saying "It takes a couple of weeks to get back to normal."

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Another astronaut who also served as commander of the station, Terry Virts, seconds Chiao's thoughts.

“For me, I felt two things: I felt really heavy and really, really dizzy,” Virts said.

When are Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returning?

Williams and Wilmore have been at the International Space Station for such a long time that experts are raising concerns about their health and well-being.

Also Read: Trump calls Sunita Williams 'woman with wild hair'

With no return date in sight, the matter has continued to remain in the news, with even a political angle being attached to it. President Donald Trump and his aide Elon Musk blamed the Biden administration for not doing enough to get the two back.

The astronauts were supposed to be back after an eight-day mission in June last year. However, problems with their vehicle, the Boeing Starliner, forced them to stay back. Since then, they have been waiting for a spacecraft to fetch them back to Earth.

Now, a SpaceX Dragon capsule is scheduled to bring them back in mid-March.

A NASA official recently announced that after Crew 10 launches for the ISS on March 12, Crew 9 will undock on March 16.