• Question: what is the greatest effect space has on the body that (1) has been discovered?

    Asked by St4mpi10n6n0s3 to Simon, Julia, Delma, Andrew, Alex on 8 Dec 2015.
    • Photo: Delma Childers

      Delma Childers answered on 8 Dec 2015:

      One of the more concerning issues is the loss of bone and muscle in space. This makes astronauts weaker the longer they’re up on the space station. They won’t really notice, though, until they’re back on Earth and need to use their bones and muscles to get around. This is why astronauts exercise for so long (about 2.5 hours) every day in space.

    • Photo: Andrew Winnard

      Andrew Winnard answered on 8 Dec 2015:

      Delma is spot on – bone loss has been a huge problem! You really dont want to get thin weak bones as they can break easier when you fall over which hurts a lot! However, it is starting to sound like the 2hours exercise everyday may be protecting the bones now 🙂 so we can start to look at other problems including:The heart and lungs getting weaker, so you get tired quicker when exercising and muscles getting weaker.
      Both of these problems are fairly easy to fix once though.

      Other more complex issues are:
      You get more pressure in your head in space – it causes the eyes to change shape, so if you wear glasses on Earth, you might not need to in space! We have not really figured this one out yet why it happens and how to fix it.
      You also get back pain in space because you grow several centimeters and your spine bends differently. We are seeing back injuries in astronauts after spaceflight and want to make sure that doesnt happen 🙂 FRED might help with this one day!

    • Photo: Julia Attias

      Julia Attias answered on 8 Dec 2015:

      @St4mpi10n6n0s3,

      Great question! Andrew and Delma have taken you through many of the main issues. Radiation is also a big concern. On Earth we have a magnetic field that keeps us shielded from these cosmic rays. Astronauts on the ISS are at a greater risk of radiation exposure because they are outside of this magnetic field, but the astronauts are very closely monitored by mission control to make sure they are ok! Venturing further to Mars would be a concern due to the amount of radiation they would be exposed to…

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