NASA is now monitoring the second stranded astronaut’s health, according to insiders.
Barry Wilmore, 61, has reportedly lost body mass during his 160-day stay on the International Space Station (ISS).
An unnamed NASA employee said that while his weight loss does not appear to be as pronounced as Sunita Williams’ ‘gaunt’ look, doctors are taking precautions to ensure he doesn’t reach a tipping point.
At the start of the mission, six-foot-tall Wilmore weighed more than 210 pounds, the source said. It’s unclear how much weight he’s lost since boarding the ISS.
‘He had a lot more mass at the start, so it’s not as big of a deal,’ the employee told the New York Post.
‘But it’s happening, and it’s being monitored. Any changes in the astronauts’ bodies are being noted. And his mass seems to have gone down.’
It comes after Williams denied ‘rumors’ that she had lost weight in a live video published by NASA on Tuesday.
She claimed that she has actually gained muscle on board the ISS, and pointed to ‘fluid shift’ to explain her appearance in the concerning photos.
Wilmore (front left) and Williams (front right) pose with the other members of the Expedition 72 crew for a photo posted on October 4
Another NASA employee has spoken out about the health of the stranded Starliner crew, but this time, the unnamed source raised concerns about astronaut Barry Wilmore
It’s not unusual for astronauts to shed weight while in space. During long-term ISS missions, they typically lose about five percent of their original body mass mainly due to the muscle and bone density loss that is caused by microgravity.
The Starliner crew has been stuck on the ISS since their spacecraft experienced numerous technical issues, rendering it unfit to return the two astronauts to Earth.
NASA has declined to comment on the information leaked by its employees, and instead referred DailyMail.com to their original statement given on November 6.
‘All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations,’ the statement reads.
‘They have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health.’
At the start of the mission, six-foot-tall Wilmore weighed more than 210 pounds, the source said. It’s unclear how much weight he’s lost since boarding the ISS
A doctor has raised concerns about Williams’ health, claiming this September 24 showed her looking ‘gaunt’
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams denied the ‘rumors’ about her health in a live video published by NASA on Tuesday, claiming that she has actually put on muscle over the last five months
In the NASA video published on Tuesday, Williams said that she has actually put on muscle over the last five months.
‘My thighs are a little bit bigger, my butt is a little bit bigger. We do a lot of squats,’ she said.
She added that she is the same weight as when she launched to the ISS in June, and bizarrely claimed the apparent change in her appearance was due to ‘fluid shift.’
‘I think things shift around quite a bit, you probably heard of a fluid shift,’ Williams said.
‘Folks in space you know, their heads look a little bit bigger because the fluid evens out along the body.’
During spaceflight, weightlessness instantly shifts blood and fluids from the lower portion of the body to the upper areas, which can sometimes result in a puffy pace and thinner legs.
Both Williams and Wilmore passed their pre-mission physicals before the space flight.
Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore before their mission on June 5
Another NASA employee who is ‘tangentially’ involved in the mission told the New York Post that the agency has become concerned about the speculation around Williams’ health.
The source added that NASA is warning employees that leaking sensitive information about the astronauts’ health could be grounds for firing.
‘HIPAA laws apparently apply to NASA, too,’ the insider said.
Williams and Wilmore have been living on the ISS since June 6 after they launched for what was supposed to be a 10-day mission.
But their faulty Starliner spacecraft suffered numerous technical issues – including helium leaks and thruster malfunctions – that ultimately drove NASA to deem it unsafe to carry the astronauts home.
Starliner returned to Earth uncrewed on September 7. Williams and Wilmore will spend roughly another three months on the ISS before they return home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft sometime in February 2025.
The fiasco was a public embarrassment for Boeing, and the spaceflight company has since been sidelined on the mission.
But the anonymous NASA sources told the New York Post that Boeing executives are keeping a close eye on the mission’s latest developments.
‘If anything happens to those astronauts, heads will roll at Boeing,’ said the employees.
‘This is a really, really bad look.’
Boeing declined DailyMail.com’s request for comment.