NASA gives health update on astronauts mysteriously hospitalized after space mission

NASA today stressed that stranded astronaut Sunita Williams is safe and healthy, amid growing public concern about her health.

But the space agency again declined to provide details about four astronauts who were mysteriously hospitalized late last month after returning from a separate space mission.

A doctor raised concerns about Williams this week after a photo showed her looking “thin,” indicating she had lost significant weight after spending more than 150 days on the International Space Station.

But NASA is confident that Williams and the rest of the astronauts on board the ISS will be fine.

“All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station are undergoing routine medical evaluations, are monitored by dedicated flight surgeons and are in good health,” NASA spokesperson Jimi Russell told DailyMail.com.

Concerns about Williams arose less than two weeks after the hospitalization of four NASA/SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts, who crashed off the coast of Florida on October 25. The crew had spent 232 days on board the ISS.

One of them was hospitalized overnight for a “medical issue,” while the other three were discharged the same day after undergoing medical evaluations.

NASA declined to provide details about why the crew was hospitalized, which astronaut had to complete an overnight stay and whether the medical issues were related to their return to Earth.

Instead, the agency has postponed DailyMail.com to a blog post from October 26.

The statement said one of the astronauts stayed overnight at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, Florida, but “was in good health and will resume normal post-flight reconditioning with other crew members upon discharge.”

NASA’s decision not to reveal who that astronaut was or reveal details about his or her condition was made “to protect the crew member’s medical privacy.”

While the agency has repeatedly expressed confidence in the well-being of its astronauts, studies have shown that living in space takes a toll on human health.

This is especially true for long-duration ISS missions, which typically last six months.

Space is a harsh environment that causes astronauts to lose body fat, muscle mass and bone density and undergo high doses of radiation.

This can lead to a range of health problems, including vision problems, kidney stones and even make astronauts more vulnerable to infections on the ISS.

Williams and her crewmate, Barry Wilmore, will be on board the ISS for six months from today and will remain there until February 2025 at the earliest.

By then, they’ll be able to catch a ride back to Earth on SpaceX’s Crew-9 Dragon Capsule mission.

All four Crew-8 astronauts were hospitalized after returning to Earth, but NASA has not released any details about the reason, or reasons, why

The photo of Williams, taken on September 24, shows her tucking into a pepperoni pizza and fries, surrounded by herbs and other treats.

“Her cheeks seem a little sunken – and usually this happens when you’ve had some sort of total weight loss,” Dr. Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist in Seattle, told DailyMail.com.

‘I think I can tell by her face and her sunken cheeks [she] has probably been significant [calorie] shortage for a while.’

Weight loss is not uncommon among astronauts during long-duration ISS missions. In fact, according to the Lunar and Planetary Institute, most lose about five percent of their body weight during a four- to six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Dr. Gupta told DailyMail.com: ‘What you see there in that photo is someone who I think is experiencing the natural stresses of living at very high altitudes, even in a pressurized cabin, for extended periods of time.’

‘BBased on what I see in the photo anyway, I don’t think she’s at all in a place where I’d say her life is in danger,” he added.

‘BBut I don’t think you can look at that photo and say she’s a healthy body weight.

As for Crew-9, which included NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, it is possible that their health also suffered during their time on the ISS.

The four astronauts spent 232 days (or almost eight months) aboard the ISS. It is reasonable to assume that the stress their bodies endured during that time may have resulted in the need for medical attention upon their return to Earth.

Alternatively, some have speculated that something went wrong during the crew’s descent, despite NASA’s statement that the crew “crashed safely aboard their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.”

The fact that all four astronauts received some form of medical care suggests that the health problems were somehow related to their return flight.