NASA insisted today that stranded astronaut Sunita Williams is safe and healthy amid growing public concern about her health.
But the space agency again declined to provide details about four astronauts who were mysteriously hospitalized late last month after returning from a separate space mission.
A doctor raised concerns about Williams this week after a photograph showed her looking “emaciated,” suggesting she had lost a significant amount of weight after spending more than 150 days trapped on the International Space Station.
But NASA remains adamant that Williams and the rest of the astronauts aboard the ISS are fine.
“All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health,” NASA spokesperson Jimi Russell told DailyMail. com.
The concern for Williams came less than two weeks after the hospitalization of four NASA/SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts, who landed off the coast of Florida on October 25. The crew had spent 232 days aboard the ISS.
One of them was hospitalized overnight for a ‘medical issue’, while the other three were discharged that same day after undergoing medical evaluations.
NASA declined to provide details about why the crew was hospitalized, which astronaut had to stay overnight, or whether the medical problems were related to their return to Earth.
USING HER: A doctor expressed concern about Sunita’s health, stating that this photo from September 24 showed her looking “haggard.”
Instead, the agency postponed DailyMail.com until an October 26 blog post.
The statement said one of the astronauts spent the night at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida, but was “in good health and will resume normal post-flight reconditioning with other crew members” after being discharged.
NASA’s decision not to reveal who that astronaut was or disclose details about his condition was made “to protect the crew member’s medical privacy.”
While the agency has repeatedly expressed confidence in the well-being of its astronauts, studies have shown that living in space affects human health.
This is especially true for long-duration missions to the ISS, which typically last six months.
Space is a hostile environment that causes astronauts to lose body fat, muscle mass, bone density, and endure high doses of radiation.
This can lead to a number of health problems, including vision problems, kidney stones, and even making astronauts more vulnerable to infections on the ISS.
Williams and his crewmate, Barry Wilmore, have been aboard the ISS for six months as of today and will remain there until February 2025 at the earliest.
By then, they will be able to return to Earth in the Dragon Capsule of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
All four Crew-8 astronauts were hospitalized after their return to Earth, but NASA has not released any details about the reason or reasons why.
Williams’ photo, taken on September 24, shows her eating a pepperoni and French fries pizza while surrounded by condiments and other treats.
“His cheeks look a little sunken in, and typically this happens when you’ve lost some sort of total body weight,” Dr. Vinay Gupta, a Seattle pulmonologist, told DailyMail.com.
“I think what I can discern from his face and sunken cheeks is that he’s probably been in a significant (calorie) deficit for a while.”
Weight loss is not uncommon among astronauts during extended missions to the ISS. In fact, most lose about five percent of their body weight during a four- to six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, according to the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Dr Gupta told DailyMail.com: “What you are seeing in that image is someone who I believe is experiencing the natural stress of living at a very high altitude, even in a pressurized cabin, for prolonged periods.”
‘B“Based on what I’m at least seeing in the photo, I don’t think he’s in a… place where we’d say his life is in danger,” he added.
‘BBut I don’t think you can look at that photo and say she’s a healthy body weight.
As for Crew-9, which included NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, their health may also have been affected during their time on the ISS.
The four astronauts spent 232 days (almost eight months) aboard the ISS. It is reasonable to believe that the stress their bodies endured during that time may have resulted in the need for medical care upon their return to Earth.
Alternatively, some have speculated that something went wrong during the crew’s descent, despite NASA’s statement that the crew “landed safely aboard their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.”
The fact that all four astronauts received any kind of medical care suggests that the health problems were somehow related to their return flight.