New health concerns about NASA astronauts stranded on ISS after ‘skinny’ new photo

A doctor has expressed concern over the health of one of NASA’s stranded astronauts after a recent photo showed her looking ‘skinny’.

Sunita Williams, 59, has spent 152 days in space after Boeing’s malfunctioning Starliner spacecraft left her stranded on the International Space Station.

Williams and her fellow astronaut Barry Wilmore docked on June 6 on what was supposed to be an eight-day mission, but have been there ever since.

While the two have put on a positive front in their public comments and interviews, a recent photo tells a different story, according to Dr. Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist and veteran in Seattle.

Dr. Gupta told DailyMail.com: ‘What you see there in the picture is someone who I think is experiencing the natural strain of living at very high altitude, even in a pressurized cabin, for long periods of time.

“Her cheeks look a little sunken — and that usually happens when you’ve had some sort of total weight loss,” added Dr. Gupta.

‘I think what I can tell by the sunkenness of her face and her cheeks is that (she) has probably been in a significant (calorie) deficit for a while.’

The body burns more calories in space as it adjusts to changes in gravity and tries to maintain its body temperature in cold, harsh conditions—and to prevent muscle and bone loss, astronauts exercise about 2.5 hours a day, burning more calories.

It comes just days after an entire NASA crew was hospitalized without explanation after spending more than 200 days on the ISS.

In the photo, which was posted on September 24, Williams can be seen tucking into a pepperoni pizza and chips while surrounded by condiments and other goodies.

‘Bat least from what I see in the picture, I don’t think she’s in a… place where I’d say her life is in danger,’ said Dr. Gupta.

‘But I don’t think you can look at that picture and say she’s at some kind of healthy body weight.

‘There are just things that the human body can’t adapt to, and one of them is, you know, she probably loses more calories than she takes in.’

Astronauts are encouraged to consume up to 3,500 calories a day while in space to prevent the body from breaking down.

But Dr. Gupta said: ‘Your metabolism (in space) basically requires you to burn a lot more energy than you consume, even if you consume pepperoni slices.

‘Her body is probably working harder to do basic things because the partial pressure of oxygen is lower than it would be at sea level.

‘They’re consuming high-calorie foods, as you can see – cold meats and, you know, other meats, the proteins, but high-fat cold meats – it’s not necessarily a balanced diet.’

The problem of body decomposition is a particular concern for women.

A study compiled by NASA in 2014 found that women have a greater loss of blood plasma volume than men during spaceflight, and women’s stress response typically includes an increase in heart rate, while men respond with an increase in vascular resistance.

The loss of blood plasma causes your metabolism to temporarily increase while your body mobilizes resources to adjust to the plasma loss.

And this reaction can slightly increase your calorie burn, resulting in weight loss similar to what Williams might be experiencing.

Another study published by Ball University in 2023 also found that women lose more muscle than men in a microgravity environment like spaceflight.

Researchers explored muscle loss (atrophy) in men and women during two extended bed rest trials.

The men spent 90 days and the women spent 60 days in a six-degree head-down tilt position, where their head is under their feet.

This simulated a weightless state similar to what crew members experience during spaceflight.

Both volunteer groups ate, slept, performed personal hygiene and all other activities in either a head-down or horizontal position.

The team found that all participants lost a significant amount of muscle mass in both areas of the leg during their bed rest period compared to before bed rest.

The women lost more muscle mass from the quadriceps after one month compared to the men, and the women lost more muscle mass after two months than the men lost after three months.

“The amount of oxygen in the air is lower than it is at baseline, their nutritional intake will not be as robust as it can be on land,” Dr Gupta said.

‘Their ability to train will be limited. So any kind of physiological variable that defines our well-being is going to be suboptimal, especially even in a pressurized cabin, but in, you know, in outer space in their case, right?

“So what you see there in the picture, especially with Sunita, is someone who I think is experiencing the natural strain of living at very high altitude, even in a pressurized cabin, for extended periods of time.”

He went on to explain that while Williams has had the necessary training to spend time on the ISS, there are ‘just things that the human body can’t adapt to.

“Her metabolism is probably off the roof, to keep warm, to operate in an environment where her body, again, even though it’s under pressure, is probably working harder to do basic things because the partial pressure of oxygen is lower than it would be at sea level,” added Dr. Gupta.