All astronauts on ISS in ‘excellent health’: NASA’s chief medical officer dismisses tabloid rumours

On November 15, 2024By Littum

Last week the media could New York Post and Daily Mail claimed that International Space Station astronaut Suni Williams’ health had deteriorated – and on Wednesday (Nov 13), similar conjectures was made about her ISS mate Butch Wilmore. In response to the allegations about Williams, both NASA and Williams himself spoke out confirm that she is fine. Now, in response to these rumors about Wilmore, NASA has chimed in again.

“I will tell you that the astronauts are in absolutely outstanding health and condition right now,” said Dr. JD Polk, health and medical director at NASA headquarters in Washington, told Space.com. “So let me address that rumor right up front.”

“I hope that the Chief Medical Officer of NASA is an informed and credible source – I will put it that way,” added Dr. Polk.

The speculation about Williams’ health appears to be based on recent photos released by the agency. Dr. Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist not affiliated with NASA, suggested to The Daily Mail that the photos show Williams’ cheeks appearing “sunken” and illustrate someone who has “experienced the natural stresses of living at very high altitude, even in a pressure cabin for long periods of time.” Both this outlet and The New York Post specifically say Williams looked “skinny.” Still, under one video interview Williams completed aboard the ISS on November 12, she said: “I’m the same weight as I was when I got up here.”

NASA’s chief medical officer reiterated the fact about astronauts’ weight. “You have fluid replacement and you have astronauts doing aerobic activity one hour a day and resistive exercise one hour a day,” Polk said. “So arguably, between that and the fluid shift, there are morphological changes that might change their appearance—but their weight hasn’t changed, and their fitness is actually improving.”

“I could definitely tell that lifting weights, which is not something I do all the time, definitely changed me,” Williams said during his video interview, referring to some of the mandatory exercises astronauts do while living in microgravity conditions for a longer period of time. “My thighs are a little bit bigger, my butt is a little bit bigger,” she said, but also emphasized, “I weigh the same.”

NASA has several ways to ensure astronauts stay in good health while aboard the station. “We have great insight into their training and their nutrition and their health,” Polk said. “The flight surgeons also do what’s called a private medical conference every week, once a week. And then, if you can imagine, they also have contact with their doctor once a week.”

Dr. Polk went on to explain that the astronauts on the ISS also have what’s called an “IP phone” or an Internet Protocol phone: “If they have a question during their break, sometimes they’ll just pick up the phone and call, so we have tremendous insight into their health and their exercise and their diet.”

Regarding speculation about Wilmore, The New York Post published an article on November 13 titled “NASA monitors second stranded astronaut’s possible weight loss after raising alarm over colleague Sunita Williams’ health.”

According to the outlet, an unnamed NASA employee “involved in the mission” said Wilmore “has also lost body mass.” The source apparently added that because Wilmore “had a lot more mass to begin with,” it’s not “that big of a deal.” In this article, The New York Post again states that Williams looked “scarringly skinny” in the released photos, and includes a photo of Williams with a caption claiming that NASA is “working to help astronaut Sunita Williams put on , after she had had significant weight loss.”

Still, Polk said, “I can tell you right now that both astronauts weigh the same (…) there are no physiological changes that I’m concerned about.”

“In 65 years of human spaceflight, we’ve never had to bring anyone back for a medical reason until now,” he added. “That’s a pretty cool metric right there.”

It’s also worth noting that calling Williams and Wilmore “stranded” astronauts isn’t entirely accurate; both took a trip to the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft back in June as part of the capsule’s first manned flight test (the aptly named Crew Flight Test, or CFT). That mission was originally supposed to last about 10 days, but due to problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system, it had to be extended. Things were definitely in limbo for a while, as NASA didn’t immediately announce what Plan B would be for Williams and Wilmore — the kind of limbo that spurred the original “stranded astronaut” narrative — but a plan for their return eventually became put together.

They are meant to come back to Earth in one SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in February 2025 along with the two astronauts from the Crew-9 mission – which reached the ISS in September – and NASA has previously stated that there are more than enough supplies aboard the orbiting laboratory to sustain all astronauts until their scheduled return date. Other ISS residents currently include NASA astronauts Don Pettit and Nick Hague and Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.

As for the Starliner capsule, it returned to Earth empty on September 6 — and it won’t be long before the spacecraft’s crew members follow it home.