The two NASA astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station for five months have been feasting on pizza, roast chicken, and even shrimp cocktails — but have very little fresh produce to supplement their diets, The Post can reveal.
Doctors for the space agency are closely monitoring the health and diets of Butch Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 59, after a recent photo showed Williams looking jarringly gaunt.
A specialist connected with the beleaguered Starliner mission told The Post that the pair are chowing down on a variety of food, including breakfast cereal with powdered milk, pizza, shrimp cocktails, roast chicken, and tuna, as medics ensure they are consuming enough calories.
However, the grub, which is developed at the Space Food Systems Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, is limited when it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables.
The ISS only replenishes produce every three months, according to the specialist.
“There’s fresh fruit at first,” they said, “but as the three months continues that goes away — and their fruits and vegetables are packaged or freeze-dried.”
According to NASA, the ISS stocks about 3.8 pounds of food per astronaut per day, with a stockpile of additional food for any unexpected extension of missions.
The food, which is personalized to meet each astronaut’s daily requirements, is usually freeze-dried or packaged, and can be reheated using a food warmer on the ISS.
All meat and eggs are cooked on earth and only have to be reheated in space. Meanwhile, dehydrated soups, stews and casseroles need water that comes from the space station’s 530-gallon fresh water tank.
The ISS even recycles the astronauts’ urine and sweat into fresh water, ensuring very little waste.
Williams and Wilmore prepare their own food and eat it on magnetized trays with metal utensils.
The specialist insisted the astronauts are well-cared for and there shouldn’t be any concern for their health.
“Nothing is left to chance and that includes their food,” the specialist explained.
“So to be accurate, it should be very clear that any weight loss is not due to a lack of provisions on the ISS. There is plenty of food, even for an extended mission.”
The astronauts’ diets became international news after NASA released photos that showed Williams with sunken cheeks and a noticeably thinner frame.
Williams downplayed the concerns about her visible weight loss as “rumors,” and said her difference in appearance was the result of fluid shifting in her body due to the weightlessness of space.
“There’s some rumors around out there that I’m losing weight and stuff,” Williams said in a video interview. “No, I’m actually right at the same amount.”
Williams and Wilmore passed their pre-mission physicals before the space flight and were only slated to be on the ISS for eight days.
But when their Boeing Starliner experienced technical malfunctions, they became stranded at the ISS.
They are now in their fifth month on the ISS. A Space X flight is slated to bring them back to Earth in February.
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