Doctors at the United States National Space Agency (NASA) are trying to help astronaut Sunita Williams gain weight, who will remain on the International Space Station (ISS) until February 2025 due to a malfunction on Boeing’s Starliner. The woman has lost a lot of weight since arriving at the station in June, the New York Post reports, citing a source.
In the last photographs taken, the woman looks thin and emaciated, “with sunken cheeks,” the publication notes.
“He lost a lot of weight… and now he is skin and bones” – said one of the NASA employees.
According to him, doctors will first have to help Williams stabilize his weight loss and then, under favorable conditions, this process can be reversed.
According to NYP, NASA doctors began working with Williams to help her gain weight about a month ago, even before the photos were released.
Due to changes in metabolism, astronauts consume twice as many calories as the average person, and need about 4,000 calories per day just to maintain their current weight. Williams, doctors suggest, will need about 5 thousand kilocalories. Additionally, regular exercise is necessary to maintain muscle mass and bone density in zero gravity conditions.
NASA research shows, writes NYP, that the effects of space travel are “more severe for women” because they lose muscle faster.
Williams and his colleague Barry Wilmore flew to the ISS on Boeing’s first Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024. They were expected to remain there for a week, but undocking was delayed several times due to faulty parts and helium leaks.
On September 6, Starliner returned to Earth without a crew; the astronauts remained on the ISS; They are scheduled to return in February 2025 aboard the Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members from the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, RBC recalls.
