Everything that can happen to your body after a year in space has been revealed after health concerns rose over the astronauts that are stranded on the International Space Station (ISS).

The two astronauts set off on their journey to the ISS onboard Boeing’s Starliner on 5 June this year, on what was supposed to be an eight-day mission.

But five months later, the pair are still stranded, orbiting the Earth.

Americans Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, 59, and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, 61, have been stuck in space as their spacecraft was affected by technical faults, such as thruster failures and helium leaks.

The astronauts have been stuck in space for months (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

But as two options faced them, that being either to fly home on a damaged spacecraft or wait for SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to collect them safely, the choice was obvious.

Unfortunately, the wait for the new capsule to arrive will be until February at the very least.

As new photos of the NASA-trained astronauts emerged this week, people started to get concerned for their health, particularly Williams, as pulmonologist Dr Vinay Gupta described her cheeks as ‘a bit sunken’ in an interview with the Daily Mail, as well as saying that her weight overall wasn’t ideal, due to the natural stresses of living at a very high altitude’.

But in a statement to LADbible, NASA said: “All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health.”

Regardless though, what exactly happens to your body after a prolonged period of time in space?

Williams is on the left, and has evoked health concerns from the public (Instagram/@iss)

Frank Rubio returned to Earth in September 2023 after 371 days in space, as the NASA astronaut set a record for the single longest spaceflight by an American, falling two months short of the world record, held by a Russian cosmonaut.

His body underwent a number of changes, some seen before with other astronauts that were in orbit for long periods of time.

Without further ado, this is what your body can undergo after a long period of time in space:

Weight loss

NASA does its best to make sure astronauts are eating nutritiously while they’re up in space, but being up there can still affect their bodies.

When astronaut Scott Kelly took part in a study of the effects, he lost seven percent of his body mass after staying onboard the ISS for 340 days.

Muscles and bones

Pretty similarly, as laid out by the BBC, after just two weeks in space, muscle mass can fall by as much as 20 percent.

Plus, for every month they spend up there, astronauts can lose one to two percent of their bone mass and up to 10 percent over a six-month period.

So, to try and combat this, they do two-and-a-half exercise and intense training each day on the ISS as well as taking diet supplements.

Plus, the lack of gravity actually means astronauts often end up growing a little taller, with Rubio himself saying he thought his ‘spine has extended’.

Weight loss is a side-effect of being in space for a long period of time (Getty Stock Photo)

Eyesight

While you’re in space, more blood can get into the head than normal thanks to the lack of gravity. And sometimes, some of it can pool at the back of the eye, leading to changes in eyesight.

Usually, the vision changes reverse for astronauts within roughly a year of being back on Earth, but for others they can be permanent.

Plus, the galactic cosmic rays and energetic solar particles can affect the eyes with some astronauts reporting seeing flashes of lights in their eyes.

Skin

In the study with Kelly, his skin was found to have heightened sensitivity and a rash for about six days after getting back on this planet.

Friendly bacteria

We all know by now that to have a good level of health, we need a good makeup and diversity of microorganisms living in our bodies.

The study with Kelly found that the bacteria in his gut had altered profoundly compared to before he left Earth. I mean, it’s not totally surprising giving the change in food.

However, being exposed to radiation, drinking recycled water and changing activity probably played a role too.

One of the NASA astronauts stranded in space has broken her silence after new photos sparked health concerns.

Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, 59, and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, 61, embarked on an eight-day mission back on 5 June. However, technical faults threw this off and instead of opting to fly home on the faulty spacecraft, the pair have been up there ever since.

They’re not totally stranded though, as they’ll be getting a ride home on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule when it’s their turn.

Us mere Earthlings have been getting updates on the NASA pair as people worry for them and that fear was amped up recently when new photos were released.

People began commenting on her body ‘changing’ (SWNS)

Some experts feared Williams had experienced some weight loss as they commented on her body.

Referencing the snaps, pulmonologist Dr Vinay Gupta told the Daily Mail: “I think what I can discern by her face and her cheeks being sunken in is that [she] has probably been at a significant [calorie] deficit for a while.

“Based on what I’m at least seeing in the photo, I don’t think she’s quite at a… place where I say her life’s in danger.

“But I don’t think you can look at that photo and say she has sort of healthy body weight.”

In a statement to LADbible, NASA said: “All NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them, and are in good health.”

Williams has now had her say as NASA released a video of her talking to New England Sports Network yesterday (12 November).

Talking about fitness, sports, and life in space, the astronaut was asked if she has ‘lost any weight’ while she’s been trying to run various challenges up there or if her ‘overall health’ has changed.

“There’s a lot of changes that go on up here,” she said. “But it’s funny, I think there’s some rumours around out there that I’m losing weight and stuff.”

So, Williams took the chance to debunk all of this as she continued: “I’m actually right at the same amount.”

The astronaut explained that while they’re up there, they regularly weigh themselves and she is ‘at the same weight’ that she was when she first got there.

Suni and Butch left Earth in June (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“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,” she explained.

“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 but is a little bigger, we do a lot of squats.”

She explained that they use things like the treadmill because they’re working on their ‘bone density’ in their hips and in their feet.

“I think my body has changed a little bit but I weigh the same,” Williams clarified.

Two NASA astronauts have been left stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) after Boeing’s Starliner capsule ran into a series of technical problems.

Astronauts Barry Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 58, have been onboard the spacecraft since it first fired off from Florida on 6 June.

They were sent up with the Starliner for the first crewed docking of the spacecraft almost 50 days ago and were supposed to carry out a test mission which was originally scheduled to last just over a week – until they ran into trouble.

There were several delays to the undocking of Boeing’s capsule due to faulty thrusters, which was then followed up by a series of helium leaks which prompted safety concerns.

Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been stuck for seven weeks (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP)

Wilmore and Williams are waiting for the travel giant and NASA to come up with a solution, however, engineers are struggling to determine exactly what is wrong.

And until they can work out what has happened, the astronauts are stuck up there.

Various dates have been set for the Starliner’s return to Earth, however,

NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said they weren’t ready to announce a return date just yet.

He gave an update on the situation today – explaining that there wasn’t really much to fill people in on.

He said: “We don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date. We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that.

“Our focus today…is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner. I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of the fight rationale to make sure we can come home safely and that’s our primary focus right now.

“We’ll come home when we’re ready.”

Boeing and NASA have carried out numerous tests on the faulty thrusters which have caused problems during the Starliner’s maiden voyage.

The Starliner was launched on 6 June but has ran into a series of technical problems on it’s first manned mission (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A spare has been extensively examined in the New Mexico desert to try and work out what’s going wrong up in space.

Stich said that further analysis on the results will be completed this weekend, however, a NASA review won’t take place until the first week of August – and Wilmore and Williams will have to wait for that before they can come home.

But he did say that the US space agency is also weighing up other options too, such as bringing the astronauts back on another spacecraft.

As it stands, the pair are safe on the Starliner for now, Sitch told Sky News.

Before the series of unfortunate events took place, NASA has said that the spacecraft would be suitable for a 45-day stay.

However, this has now obviously already been exceeded.

NASA then said it would be viable for Wilmore and Williams to stay for 90 days, but even if they ended up surpassing this, the Starliner is approved to stay for 21 days.

Sitch said there were sufficient supplies and resources for them, while there were no risks to anyone onboard.

I’m sure it’s not a thought you’d ever have to worry about, I’m sure.

But for NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 58, it’s their reality at the moment.

The two are currently stranded on the International Space Station (ISS), after Boeing’s Starliner capsule ran into a number of technical issues.

The pair have been onboard the ISS since they launched from Florida, US, on 6 June.

Sent up by the Starliner, the astronauts docked and were meant to carry out a test mission that would last over a week until running into problems, as the Starliner’s faulty thrusters and a number of helium leaks brought concerns over safety.

The astronauts are waiting for news from travel giants Boeing and NASA to conjure a solution to the issue, but engineers are still lost on what the problem is.

So until that is determined, the astronauts are stuck up there, orbiting the Earth.

NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said that there is no set return date just yet, explaining: “We don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date.

“We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that.

“Our focus today…is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner. I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of the fight rationale to make sure we can come home safely and that’s our primary focus right now.

“We’ll come home when we’re ready.”

But after such a long amount of time in space, what happens to the body?

The astronauts are currently stuck in space. (MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)

Well, according to the Lead of Life Sciences at the European Space Agency, Angelique Van Ombergen, a few things happen.

Calling space a ‘hostile environment’ for the body, Van Ombergen explains in a YouTube short: “When astronauts spend several months in space, they can lose up to 20% of their muscle mass, and also their bone density decreases.

“Since the whole body is exposed to microgravity, the heart doesn’t need to pump around as much blood as it used to on Earth and the cardiovascular system deteriorates,” she revealed.

Van Ombergen said that in their first few days in space, astronauts can experience ‘acute motion sickness’, while over time, radiation from the Sun could cause DNA damage.

Being stuck in the ISS could have some detrimental effects for the astronauts. (Getty Stock Photo)

This could increase the risk of cancer and could even cause cardiovascular degeneration.

It can also have an impact on the astronaut’s mental health, as the health expert added: “Being confined in a small space, far away from family and friends, can also have a negative impact on human psychology.”

She concludes by saying that the ISS gives them a great opportunity to study and better understand the effects of spaceflight on the human body and how to improve the experience and treat it when they’re back on Earth.