A few days ago, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who has been stranded on the International Space Station for five months, joined the space agency in quashing fears of her deteriorating health. Previously released images of the Indian-origin astronaut and her mission partner Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore revealed a “gaunt” vision, hinting at her drastic weight loss in space. However, Williams soon attributed her dramatically different appearance to fluid shifts due to the weightlessness in space, dismissing concerns otherwise raised by doctors as “rumours”.
The discussion has inevitably dragged the focus to Williams and Wilmore’s health regardless of their and NASA’s claims amid this unexpectedly extended space stay.
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What are Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore eating on the ISS?
On November 18, The New York Post reported that the NASA duo have been dining on pizza, roast chicken and shrimp cocktails on board the ISS. However, a source with insight into the failed Boeing Starliner mission told the outlet that they have limited fresh produce to boost their healthy diets.
NASA is believed to be closely monitoring the stranded astronauts who are now expected to return to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, according to recent reassuring updates.
As per the latest revelation by the specialist insider, the NASA duo has a variety of food at their disposal. The list includes breakfast cereal with powdered milk, pizza, roast chicken, pizza, shrimp cocktails and tuna. Medics are also reportedly making sure that the pair is consuming enough calories. Some of these food items were even displayed in the picture released by NASA, which showed Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 59, having a meal on the ISS on September 9.
Specialist reassures any purported weight loss is “not due to a lack of provisions”
Pointing out their shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables that was developed at the Space Food Systems Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the insider said, There’s fresh fruit at first, but as the three months continues that goes away — and their fruits and vegetables are packaged or freeze-dried.” The grub, including all meat and eggs originally cooked on Earth, only has to be reheated on the ISS. Other items that need water, like dehydrated soup, stews and casseroles, get it from the space station’s 530-gallon fresh water tank. Additionally, the astronauts’ urine and sweat are also recycled into fresh water on board the ISS.
The specialist insisted that there was no lack on the part of the space station as “Nothing is left to chance and that includes their food.”
“So to be accurate, it should be very clear that any weight loss is not due to a lack of provisions on the ISS. There is plenty of food, even for an extended mission.” NASA also states that the ISS is ready with about 3.8 pounds of food per astronaut per day. Moreover, additional food stock is also there in case of any unprecedented mission extensions.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are slated to disembark from the ISS with SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission members in February 2025.