NASA clarifies Sunita Williams’ “good health” amid media speculations
by KalingaTV Bureau · KalingaTVRejecting media reports claiming health crisis of Sunita Williams, NASA clarified that all the astronauts in the International Space Station are in “good health” and their routine medical evaluations are monitored by dedicated flight surgeons.
A picture is surfacing on social media where the 59-year-old can be seen having a pizza with fellow astronaut Barry Wilmore. It can be seen that she has lost a considerable amount of weight. They have been at the ISS since June, which was supposed to be for eight days but has been extended upto February due to a Starliner spacecraft malfunction. According to a Seattle-based pulmonologist, Williams looks “gaunt” in the picture, adding that she seems to be experiencing the natural stresses of living at a very high altitude for extended periods.
“Her cheeks appear a bit sunken and usually it happens when you’ve had sort of total body weight loss. ‘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,” the doctor told Daily Mail.
On October 26, a NASA astronaut – part of the Crew-8, was hospitalised after returning from a nearly eight-month deployment on the ISS. According to NASA, astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin were flown together to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida. After a medical evaluation at the hospital, one of the astronauts was kept under observation as a precautionary measure. However, the details of the astronaut were not revealed to protect the crew member’s medical privacy, NASA said.