NASA Astronauts Return To Earth After Extended Stay On The ISS | Bottle "Pop" Physics

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Mar 21, 2025

Join Casey Crownhart, a senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, as she shares insights about astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returning after their record 286-day mission on the ISS. Discover how climate change is accelerating with each passing year and learn about innovative projects like the Eret Glacier Initiative. Plus, enjoy the thrill of science with a deep dive into the physics of bottle popping, revealing the surprising reactions that make that celebratory 'pop' so special.

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ANECDOTE

Extended ISS Stay

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth after an extended stay on the ISS.
Their initial eight-day mission turned into nine months due to issues with the Boeing Starliner capsule.

ANECDOTE

Dolphin Welcome

Upon splashdown, the astronauts received an unexpected welcome.
A pod of dolphins greeted them in the Gulf of Mexico.

INSIGHT

Hottest Decade

The past decade has been the hottest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
2024 was the warmest year, exceeding pre-industrial temperatures by 1.55°C.

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After nine months aboard the International Space Station, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally landed back on Earth. Also, a German physicist and homebrewer discovered brief, intense physical reactions that happen when you uncork a bubbly swing-top bottle.

NASA Astronauts Return To Earth After Extended Stay On The ISS

After 286 days aboard the International Space Station—278 days longer than their initial planned mission—NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams landed safely back on Earth on Tuesday, off the coast of Florida. Their mission turned into a nine-month stay on the station after their Boeing Starliner capsule had issues with its thrusters and NASA deemed it unsafe to carry the astronauts back. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule instead ferried them to Earth earlier this week. And they had a splashdown surprise: A pod of curious dolphins greeted them after they landed.

Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Casey Crownhart, senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, to catch us up on that and other big science stories from this week, including why a company is trying to “refreeze” a massive glacier, why the 10 hottest years on record are the last 10, and how the London Zoo is trying to conserve a unique frog that incubates its young in its vocal sacs.

The Physics That Makes Swing-Top Bottles ‘Pop’

For a lot of us, uncorking a bottle is the sound of celebration. It’s also a sound that we may not think too much about—until we open our next bottle.

But Dr. Max Koch, a physicist at the University of Göttingen who does home brewing on the side, got to wondering what actually makes that popping sound. What’s happening inside that bottle, physics-wise? To find out more, he recorded the uncorking of an unsuccessful batch of his ginger beer using microphones and a high-speed camera, and analyzed the bubbly results with a physicist’s rigor. His team’s findings were published in the journal Physics of Fluids.

Dr. Koch sits down with Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the brief but intense changes to temperature, sound, and speed that happen when you uncork a swing-top glass bottle.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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