Question: What happens to your muscles in space?

Rochelle Velho answered on 18 Jan 2016:

Human body muscles rely on use. If they are not used they get wasted. You use your muscles everyday on earth, without knowing, because of the gravitational forces acting on your muscles. Your muscles work harder when you are running or walking rather than reading a book.

In space, astronauts float as they are beyond the pull of the earths gravitational field. So they use special exercise machines to build their muscles. Some scientists like Julia are investigating how we can preserve our muscle strength when we are floating in space!