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 Worldwide House Station (ISS).
The “rumours” had been sparked by current photographs of her “gaunt” look, the place she regarded weaker and thinner after spending a minimum of 150 days in area, triggering considerations of fast weight reduction.
“…I believe my physique has modified slightly bit however I weigh the identical…,” Williams, who’s the House Station Commander, advised the media in a video interview that was shared by NASA.
“There are a variety of adjustments that go on right here… It is humorous, I believe there’s some rumours round that I’m reducing weight and stuff… No, I’m truly proper on the similar quantity… we go weigh ourselves, we have now a spring mass… Butch and I weigh ourselves the identical approach that I used to be once I obtained 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, nevertheless, 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 deliver the 2 astronauts again to Earth within the troubled new capsule, they usually’ll have to attend till February for a experience residence with SpaceX.
As Ms William’s photographs of “sunken cheeks” and a thinner physique surfaced, the astronaut mentioned the change in look was on account of a “fluid shift” within the physique.
“I believe issues shift round fairly a bit… you have got a fluid shift the place you already know the parents in area… their heads look a bit greater as a result of the fluids even out alongside the physique. However now, you already know, we have been up right here for a few months, we have been figuring out right here. We have a motorbike, we have a treadmill and we have weight-lifting gear,” she mentioned.
“I might 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 greater, my physique is slightly bit greater, we do a variety of squats. And simply to return to the treadmill…why… It is as a result of we’re engaged on our bone density in our hips and in our toes. So, I believe my physique has modified slightly bit however I weigh the identical…,” she added.