Britt Jones
One of NASA's stranded astronauts has made a concerning revelation of something she can no longer do now that she’s been in space for eight months.
Sunita Williams has been living her day-to-day life in microgravity for the past 234 days after she was left without any way to come home to Earth following issues with her spacecraft.
Alongside Barry 'Butch' Wilmore, Williams was supposed to only spend eight days onboard the International Space Station when they first began their mission on 5 June, 2024.
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However, the Boeing capsule faced numerous technical issues, making it unsafe for the pair to continue their journey home.
The craft was then returned to Earth empty, as officials continue to try and find a way for both astronauts to come back home to their families.
At the moment, it is believed that they will not be able to leave the ISS until at least March, where they will be given a ride on SpaceX's Crew-9 spacecraft.
President Donald Trump expressed his feelings on their situation, branding them as 'the two brave astronauts' who he claimed were 'virtually abandoned by the Biden administration'. That’s when he asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to 'go get' them.
But time is proving to be a very important factor right now, after Williams made a startling admission when speaking with Needham High School in Massachusetts on Monday, 3 February.
Microgravity undoubtedly takes a toll on astronauts' bodies, which can really impact muscle and bone health.
For Williams, she has now lost the ability to carry out several basic tasks, and can’t even remember what it's like to walk.
She told the students: "I've been up here long enough, right now I've been trying to remember what it's like to walk. I haven't walked. I haven't sat down. I haven't laid down."
There have previously been concerns surrounding the health of the astronauts after they noticeably appear to be thinner thanks to their muscle mass declining and probably also their rationing of food.
But Williams has also said that she’s going just fine.
While people were chattering about the pair looking too thin, she said to the New England Sports Network Clubhouse in November: “There’s a lot of changes that go on up here. But it’s funny, I think there’s some rumours around out there that I’m losing weight and stuff. I’m actually right at the same amount."
Williams also explained that she'd built muscle during the trip, adding: "I think things shift around quite a bit. You’ve probably heard of a fluid shift, where folks in space, their heads look a little bigger because the fluid evens out along the body.
"But Butch and I have been up here for a number of months, we’ve been on the workout gear. We’ve got a bike, we got a treadmill and we got weightlifting equipment.
"And I could definitely tell that weightlifting - which is not something I do all the time - has definitely changed me. My thighs are a little bigger, my butt is a little bigger, we do a lot of squats."