Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who has been in space since June, has put an end to swirling “rumours” about her health, saying she weighs the same as she did when she arrived at the International Space Station (ISS).
The “rumours” were sparked by recent images of her “gaunt” appearance, where she looked weaker and thinner after spending at least 150 days in space, triggering concerns of rapid weight loss.
“…I think my body has changed a little bit but I weigh the same…,” Williams, who is the Space Station Commander, told the media in a video interview that was shared by NASA.
“There are a lot of changes that go on here… It’s funny, I think there’s some rumours around that I am losing weight and stuff… No, I am actually right at the same amount… we go weigh ourselves, we have a spring mass… Butch and I weigh ourselves the same way that I was when I got up here,” she added.
Ms Williams and her fellow astronaut Barry (Butch) Willmore have been at the ISS for nearly five months. The duo had launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 for its first crewed flight, and arrived at the space station on June 6. They, however, faced delays, space debris threats, helium leaks and technical glitches on the Starliner spacecraft on which they travelled.
On August 24, NASA said it’s too risky to bring the two astronauts back to Earth in the troubled new capsule, and they’ll have to wait until February for a ride home with SpaceX.
As Ms William’s images of “sunken cheeks” and a thinner physique surfaced, the astronaut said the change in appearance was due to a “fluid shift” in the body.
“I think things shift around quite a bit… you have a fluid shift where you know the folks in space… their heads look a bit bigger because the fluids even out along the body. But now, you know, we’ve been up here for a couple of months, we’ve been working out here. We’ve got a bike, we’ve got a treadmill and we’ve got weight-lifting equipment,” she said.
“I could definitely tell that weightlifting, which is not something that I do all the time, is something that has changed me. My thighs are a little bit bigger, my body is a little bit bigger, we do a lot of squats. And just to go back to the treadmill…why… It’s because we are working on our bone density in our hips and in our feet. So, I think my body has changed a little bit but I weigh the same…,” she added.
