Suni Williams, a NASA astronaut on the International Space Station, is healthy and not suffering from any medical problems, NASA’s top medical officer said Thursday.

The unusual pronouncement was prompted by news articles suggesting that Williams was experiencing health problems during an unplanned extended stay in orbit. That in turn set off widespread rumors on social media.

Williams, 59, addressed the issue directly Tuesday during an interview with New England Sports Network.

“I think there’s some rumors around outside there that I’m losing weight and stuff,” she said.

Williams is one of the two astronauts whose stay at the space station was stretched from eight days to eight months because of propulsion problems with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took them there in June. While taking pains to insist that Williams and Butch Wilmore, the other astronaut, were not stranded, NASA decided that Starliner would return to Earth empty and that Williams and Wilmore would join the space station crew until February.

— The New York Times