One of the NASA astronauts stranded in space has broken her silence after new photos sparked health concerns.
Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, 59, and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, 61, embarked on an eight-day mission back on 5 June. However, technical faults threw this off and instead of opting to fly home on the faulty spacecraft, the pair have been up there ever since.
They’re not totally stranded though, as they’ll be getting a ride home on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule when it’s their turn.
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Us mere Earthlings have been getting updates on the NASA pair as people worry for them and that fear was amped up recently when new photos were released.
Some experts feared Williams had experienced some weight loss as they commented on her body.
Referencing the snaps, pulmonologist Dr Vinay Gupta told the Daily Mail: “I think what I can discern by her face and her cheeks being sunken in is that [she] has probably been at a significant [calorie] deficit for a while.
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“Based on what I'm at least seeing in the photo, I don't think she's quite at a... place where I say her life's in danger.
“But I don't think you can look at that photo and say she has sort of healthy body weight.”
In a statement to LADbible, NASA said: "All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health."
Williams has now had her say as NASA released a video of her talking to New England Sports Network yesterday (12 November).
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Talking about fitness, sports, and life in space, the astronaut was asked if she has ‘lost any weight’ while she’s been trying to run various challenges up there or if her ‘overall health’ has changed.
“There’s a lot of changes that go on up here,” she said. “But it’s funny, I think there’s some rumours around out there that I’m losing weight and stuff.”
So, Williams took the chance to debunk all of this as she continued: “I’m actually right at the same amount.”
The astronaut explained that while they’re up there, they regularly weigh themselves and she is ‘at the same weight’ that she was when she first got there.
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“I think things shift around quite a bit. You’ve probably heard of a fluid shift, where folks in space, their heads look a little bigger because the fluid evens out along the body,” she explained.
“But Butch and I have been up here for a number of months, we’ve been on the workout gear. We’ve got a bike, we got a treadmill and we got weightlifting equipment.
“And I could definitely tell that weightlifting - which is not something I do all the time - has definitely changed me. My thighs are a little bigger, my but is a little bigger, we do a lot of squats.”
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She explained that they use things like the treadmill because they’re working on their ‘bone density’ in their hips and in their feet.
“I think my body has changed a little bit but I weigh the same,” Williams clarified.
Jess Battison