Running a marathon on the universe is also extremely tiring

Astronaut Sunita Williams plans to participate in the Boston Marathon on April 16 in a situation where she is tied to a machine running on the International Space Station. Although she did not face the real field in the competition, she still faced major challenges in this 42.2 km long race.

The first is the protective gown she has to wear to keep her body from flying on the treadmill. The shirt will make your shoulders and hips ache even when running short distances. Williams said she intends to take frequent breaks between her shoulders and hips to have a chance to rest.

"This outfit is really a form of torture device , " said ISS station chief Michael Lopez-Alegria. All members of the station have to practice about 2 hours a day to slow down the loss of muscle and bone in weightless condition.

Astronaut Sunita Williams plans to run a marathon on a training machine running on the International Space Station.(Photo: NASA)

Williams first tried to run on the treadmill about 2 weeks after she arrived here on December 9 last year, and at that time, her muscles were slightly weakened. "When I first came here, I could not run even more than 1 km, my legs kept swinging back and forth," Williams said.

Now, she has raised the practice regime to 24 km.

Another problem when running a marathon in the universe is that sweat does not fall, it just floats around the person until they merge and float away. Williams said she plans to change clothes in the middle of the run to solve the problem.

Also, to prevent the treadmill from shaking the station when astronauts use it, the device is not fastened to the International Station wall. But Williams said the slight fluctuation of the machine makes running on it much more difficult.

Finally, to deal with the dullness of running for such a long time, the scenery and the crowd cheering around didn't change, Williams would open a movie on a laptop.

Williams ran another marathon in 3 hours 29 minutes, qualified to join the race. She expected the space trip this time to be much slower, averaging 10 minutes per mile on the machine. However, if contest officials noted that the ISS station was flying at a speed of about 27,000 km per hour, Williams technically said he had taken the race in record time - 5.4 seconds.

In addition to colleagues on the international station, there will be a small group of supporters for Williams, which is a member of the Soyuz train, will go to the Station on April 9.

Williams's sister will participate in the real marathon in Boston.

T. An