New Delhi:
Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who has been in area since June, has put an finish to swirling “rumours” about her well being, saying she weighs the identical as she did when she arrived on the International Space Station (ISS).
The “rumours” had been sparked by latest photographs of her “gaunt” look, the place she regarded weaker and thinner after spending at the very least 150 days in area, triggering issues of speedy weight reduction.
“…I feel my physique has modified slightly bit however I weigh the identical…,” Williams, who’s the Space Station Commander, informed the media in a video interview that was shared by NASA.
“There are loads of modifications that go on right here… It’s humorous, I feel there’s some rumours round that I’m shedding weight and stuff… No, I’m really proper on the identical quantity… we go weigh ourselves, now we have a spring mass… Butch and I weigh ourselves the identical means that I used to be after I received up right here,” she added.
Ms Williams and her fellow astronaut Barry (Butch) Willmore have been on the ISS for almost 5 months. The duo had launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 for its first crewed flight, and arrived on the area station on June 6. They, nonetheless, confronted delays, area particles threats, helium leaks and technical glitches on the Starliner spacecraft on which they travelled.
On August 24, NASA mentioned it is too dangerous to carry the 2 astronauts again to Earth within the troubled new capsule, they usually’ll have to attend till February for a trip house with SpaceX.
As Ms William’s photographs of “sunken cheeks” and a thinner physique surfaced, the astronaut mentioned the change in look was resulting from a “fluid shift” within the physique.
“I feel issues shift round fairly a bit… you’ve gotten a fluid shift the place the oldsters in area… their heads look a bit larger as a result of the fluids even out alongside the physique. But now, , we have been up right here for a few months, we have been figuring out right here. We’ve received a motorbike, we have a treadmill and we have weight-lifting gear,” she mentioned.
“I may positively inform that weightlifting, which isn’t one thing that I do on a regular basis, is one thing that has modified me. My thighs are slightly bit larger, my physique is slightly bit larger, we do loads of squats. And simply to return to the treadmill…why… It’s as a result of we’re engaged on our bone density in our hips and in our ft. So, I feel my physique has modified slightly bit however I weigh the identical…,” she added.