Starliner astronauts prepare to return to Houston to enjoy family and walking along the beach

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Friends of the "stranded astronauts" say they're ready for them to return to Earth and enjoy things back in Houston, like tanning and walking the beach.

NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station may get a great view of the water 250 miles up in the sky, but being that far up isn't always easy.

"She just wants to go in the water with her dogs because she hasn't felt sand on her feet in a very long time," Rice University's Dr. John Dewitt explained.

Dewitt worked at NASA for 20 years. He's friends with Suni Williams.

She and Butch Wilmore traveled to the International Space Station nine months ago, thinking it would be a week's journey.

However, issues with their capsule kept them in space for much longer.

"One week, there isn't a lot of time for your body to go through these changes, but over nine months, there's plenty of time for that adaptation to occur," Dewitt, who helped astronauts recover after missions, explained.

Dewitt said while the extended space stay impacts the heart, muscles, and balance, astronauts exercise on the ISS and can recover in a couple of days. Once they return to Earth, they'll work with doctors at the Johnson Space Center.

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While it may have been inconvenient, Dewitt said the extended stay would help NASA with future spaceflight missions.

"This is going to be another rich data set to help us better understand what to prepare for longer duration missions to the moon or to Mars," Dewitt said.

It's not just about studying their bodies; Rice Space Institute director David Alexander said having two extra astronauts on the ISS would be valuable.

"It's just like having an extra set of hands in the kitchen," Alexander explained. "It makes it go faster and better."

Nine months ago, the pair traveled to the ISS on Boeing's Starliner's first crewed mission. The flight was fine in space, but there were safety concerns about the return trip.

"If you lose a satellite, you're losing money and some capability, and that's not great, but if you lose a human, that's a whole other different level," Alexander said.

The return trip could put the astronauts back on Earth Tuesday, with a return to Houston just hours later.

"These folks are space travelers," Dewitt said. "This is what they live for."

While the view has been great, after nine months, they're ready to return and finally dip their toes in the water.

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