Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have finally touched down on Earth after a long nine months up in space — but they still have a lengthy journey of healing to go through.
After NASA released photos of the two landing back home, walking gingerly, and shaking hands with other NASA personnel after undergoing a series of health checks, doctors noticed Williams’ appearance may be cause for some concern.
It’s no surprise that the 59-year-old would look different after such a long time in a harsh environment, but before-and-after photos showing Williams’ now grayer hair, deeper wrinkles, and more gaunt face have clued experts in on just how brutal space has been to the woman’s body.
More health concerns have been raised since Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore finally returned home after nine months in space
Doctors have pointed out to the Daily Mail that the astronaut’s “visibly thin” wrists may point to a sign of rapid weight loss, muscular wasting in her arms, and bone density loss.
One particular photo also showed an IV sticking out of her wrist, “most likely” an attempt to restore hydration and electrolytes, since microgravity can trick the body into eliminating necessary fluids — which ultimately causes dehydration.
However, the fact that Williams and Wilmore are even walking less than 24 hours after their return is a promising sign, since many believed they would be lacking that ability for some time.
After all, as Dr John Jaquish, a biomedical engineer at Jaquish Biomedical, told the outlet, “That amount of time in space is crushing.”
To constantly be in an environment where “your stomach is upside down,” it becomes difficult to move food efficiently through the digestive system, causing the astronauts to eat less and wait longer in between meals.
Also weighing in on the situation was Dr. Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist and Air Force veteran.
“I don’t think people realize that you need gravity to exercise your muscles, and if you don’t have gravity, your muscles have nothing to have resistance against,” he explained.
Muscular atrophy, the wasting and thinning of muscle mass, may then lead to being more prone to fractures from simple and minor movements, reducing mobility.
Experts zoomed in on Williams’ thin, frail wrist in photos released by NASA
Women, in particular, are at greater risk in space, as they are more prone to bone density loss due to having smaller, lighter bones, and a decline in protective hormones such as estrogen after menopause.
“I’m not surprised that we saw and we’re seeing that she clearly has some issues there, because women tend to be impacted by these things more than men,” said Dr Gupta.
Williams and Wilmore took off in June 2024, intending to reach the International Space Station (ISS) on their spacecraft. Their journey was only supposed to last eight days.
But things took a turn when their vehicle began experiencing helium leaks, pushing fuel into the propulsion system, and resulting in a breakdown of their thrusters.
They were then scheduled to stay on the ISS until February 2025 when they could return back to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
That was then delayed another month — but on Friday, March 14, SpaceX launched Crew Dragon 10 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to retrieve the Crew-9 members, who consisted of Williams and Wilmore, as well as Aleksandr Gobunov and commander Nick Hague.
The Crew Dragon capsule, named Endurance, was captured by the ISS just after midnight ET on Sunday, March 16.
Williams ended the journey with a heartfelt message to mission control.
“Houston, thank you for tuning in this early morning,” she said. “It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive. Thank you so much.”
But experts have reassured that it’s a promising sign to see Williams and Wilmore walking less than 24 hours after touching down
