NASA is monitoring its SECOND stranded astronaut over health fears – after Sunita Williams’ weight loss scare

According to insiders, NASA is now monitoring the health of the second stranded astronaut.

Barry Wilmore, 61, has reportedly lost body weight during his 160-day stay on the International Space Station (ISS).

An unnamed NASA employee said that while his weight loss doesn’t seem 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, the 6-foot-2 Wilmore weighed more than 210 pounds, the source said. It is unclear how much weight he has lost since boarding the ISS.

“He had a lot more mass to begin with, so it doesn’t really matter,” the employee told the New York Post.

‘But it is happening and it is being monitored. Any changes in the astronauts’ bodies are noted. And his mass appears to have decreased.”

It comes after Williams denied ‘rumors’ that she had lost weight in a live video published by NASA on Tuesday.

She claimed she had actually gained muscle mass aboard the ISS, and pointed to ‘fluid shift’ to explain her appearance in the photos in question.

Another NASA employee has spoken out about the health of the stranded Starliner crew, but this time the unnamed source expressed concerns about astronaut Barry Wilmore

It is not unusual for astronauts to lose weight in space. During long-duration ISS missions, they typically lose about five percent of their original body mass, mainly due to the loss of muscle and bone density caused by microgravity.

The Starliner crew has been stuck on the ISS since their spacecraft encountered numerous technical problems, making it unsuitable to return the two astronauts to Earth.

NASA declined to comment on the information leaked by its employees, instead referring DailyMail.com to their original statement on November 6.

“All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations,” the statement read.

“They are being monitored by dedicated flight surgeons and are in good health.”

At the start of the mission, the 6-foot-2 Wilmore weighed more than 210 pounds, the source said. It is unclear how much weight he has lost since boarding the ISS

A doctor has raised concerns about Williams’ health, claiming she looked ‘thin’ on September 24

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams denied the ‘rumors’ about her health in a live video published by NASA on Tuesday, claiming she has actually built muscle mass over the past five months

In the NASA video released Tuesday, Williams said she has actually built muscle over the past five months.

‘My thighs are a little bigger, my butt is a little bigger. We do a lot of squats,” she said.

She added that she is the same weight she was when she launched to the ISS in June, and bizarrely claimed that the apparent change in her appearance was due to ‘fluid shift’.

“I think things are changing quite a bit, you’ve probably heard of a fluid shift,” Williams said.

“People in space, you know, their heads seem a little bigger because the fluid spreads evenly along the body.”

During spaceflight, weightlessness immediately shifts blood and fluids from the lower part of the body to the upper parts, which can sometimes result in a swollen pace and thinner legs.

Both Williams and Wilmore passed their pre-mission physical tests before the spaceflight.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore before their mission on June 5

Another NASA employee “tangentially” involved in the mission told the New York Post that the agency is concerned about the speculation surrounding Williams’ health.

The source added that NASA is warning employees that leaking sensitive information about the astronauts’ health could be a reason to shoot.

“HIPAA laws apparently apply to NASA as well,” the insider said.

Williams and Wilmore have been living on the ISS since June 6 after launching on a 10-day mission.

But their malfunctioning Starliner spacecraft suffered from numerous technical problems – including helium leaks and thruster failures – ultimately causing NASA to deem it unsafe to bring the astronauts home.

Starliner returned to Earth unmanned on September 7. Williams and Wilmore will spend about three more months on the ISS before returning home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft sometime in February 2025.

The fiasco was a public embarrassment for Boeing, and the space company has since been sidelined from 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 something happens to those astronauts, heads will roll at Boeing,” the employees said.

“This looks really bad.”

Boeing declined DailyMail.com’s request for comment.