The Effects Of Spaceflight On The Human Body

As travelling in the space is a life-threatening task, astronauts must go through the Astronaut Training Program before they can go for their space mission. This training educates the astronauts of various scenario of issues that they might face while being on the space and teaches them how they should behave under those circumstances. Astronauts need to go through a medical examination as well, which determines if the astronauts are fit physically for the space travel and would be able to carry out various research work, while they are out in the space. They must also train their body for weightlessness 12 meters underwater or in microgravity on a zero-g flight, so that they would get an idea

It’s cold up there. Cold and inhospitable. It is not easy, and it will take time. These are things the first humans in Africa must have thought of journeys northward. And yet, people still went. They colonized the globe in all its varied environments. When humans first bred dogs and horses, they did not do so to send them into unexplored land in our steed. We did not build crow’s nests on ships to observe and not go. Why is even a question whether humans should go to space? Space is the final frontier that the universe has to offer, and humanity would be remiss not to explore it with their own hands. It’s important to frame the debate. Succinctly, should

I was a curious boy. I was born and raised in Nashville TN alongside my older sister. Ever since I was seven, I’ve strived to be an astronaut and explore the expansions of space. After World War III, the United States rebooted their space program, with the funding and resources at an all time high. On the eve of my ninth birthday, I, along with the rest of the world, received the news that One of Jupiter’s moons was reached and prepared for colonization, marking the second space body fit to be home to humans after Mars. Graduating high school with a perfect record, I set my sights on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to jumpstart my career as a NASA Astronaut. Years past, Degrees were acquired, and preparations were made. Through the

“It’s like a built in regulatory system,” she says. Rather than being applied simultaneously with the gas, “the brake is being built … as the car is accelerating.” (hughesfulfordlab.com) When miR-21 accumulates above a certain concentration, this “brake” is activated and stops the “car” by shutting off gene expression. This is now referred to as “self-limiting induction.” It also works to control the immune response here on Earth. Dr. Hughes-Fulford speculates that self-limiting induction may be happening in other systems inthe body. For example it may be how the body keeps from growing too many skin cells-and possibly causing cancer- when healing a small surface wound. Getting people to Mars and keeping them healthy along the way is the ultimate goal for Hughes-Fulford. Astronauts now have several ways to counteract the altered immune effects of microgravity, such as quarantines. However, better understanding of how spaceflight alters immune function and susceptibility to pathogens could either lead to the development of new countermeasures or improve those already in place. While this work provides information to improve astronaut health, it also helps us to better understand the human aging process. Although the two may not seem to have much in common, microgravity causes many of the same problems for the immune system as old age does. If the team can discover some missing factor that causes immune system suppression, then it maybe possible to counteract that, which could lead to treatments for the elderly and immune-compromisedpopulation. Information gathered from these experiments could also help people who suffer from a variety of diseases ranging from osteoporosis (lack of stimulation of the osteoblast growth) to cancer (inappropriate upregulation of tumor cell growth). (medicine.net.com) Conducting experiments in space may not always be practical, but Hughes-Fulford’s validationof

What happens when you go into space? You lose muscle and bone mass. I found that the astronauts set apart two and a half hours each day are devoted to fitness. If astronauts are not exercising they start losing the bone and muscle that they need. Bone and muscle loss mean decreased size and strength, and can reduce the ability to do the work that they have due the weakness. Once they land on Earth walking difficult by the lose of muscle. Muscle can be built back up with exercise, but when you lose bone is not easy to get back. In the Apollo mission there wasn't room for the exercise equipment that the space station has.

In his “Remarks At the Areospace Medical Center” speech, J.F.K states, “Medical space research may open up a new understandings of man’s relationship to his environment”. Space exploration could and will give the U.S many (medical) discoveries and advances. Space exploration gives the U.S access to many resources (like minerals) and alternate habitats, if needed. Dr. Vernikos states “Our ability to explore and sustain human presence there will not only expand earth’s access to mineral resources, but should the need arise, provide alternate habitats for humanity’s survival “ (“Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost” Lines 25-28). Space exploration could allow the U.S to discover new history-changing things as well as give us access to resources (such as minerals) and alternate habitats, this will give the U.S everlasting benefits, that others countries maybe even the entire world does not

While this is a deeply rooted concern for NASA, the organization plans to make progress in making human space travel safe and productive. In 2016, Former President Barack Obama wrote an article on CNN’s wire service with gargantuan hopes for the future generations of space travel to develop in the future. In the article entitled, “ America Will Take the Giant Leap to Mars”, Obama proposes that the United States will be capable of sending astronauts to Mars by the year 2030. To support his statement, he comments, “I’m excited to announce that we are working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space”(Obama 1). Here, Obama is acknowledging the fact that astronauts have been, and are, affected by radiation and loss of gravity when exposed to “deep space” for long periods of time. He is also revealing that through years of research and development, the government is prepared to safely send America’s astronauts to other planets for the purpose of exploration and advances in many technological fields. Yes, astronauts’ health

But American presence in space is not just a power play; the scientific and technological benefits of space exploration remain its most invaluable quality. In the past, space initiatives have yielded countless meteorological benefits, including the prediction and management of hurricanes and other natural disasters. Surveillance, mass banking and communication, military intelligence, and environmental studies are all areas expanded through American space presence (Dubner n.p.). Not to mention the medical advances: Joan Vernikos, a member of the Space Studies Board of the National Academy and former director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division, notes, “Studying humans living in the microgravity of space has expanded our understanding of osteoporosis and balance disorders, and has led to new treatments” (Dubner 13). Space travel has also aided in the invention of medical technology. The beneficiaries of instrumentation such as digital mammography, outpatient breast biopsy procedures, and the application of telemedicine to emergency care can thank manned space missions for their current implementation. For every dollar we spend on the space program, the U.S. economy receives about $8 of economic benefit, according to Hubbard, who also believes space travel “serves as a stimulus for children to enter the fields of science and engineering” (Dubner).

Space is one of the most researched and government funded fields internationally. Globally, researchers have been attempting to discover more about the universe far before Sputnik was launched on October 4, 1957. NASA has launched over 100 flights to space, but one of the most recent flights is Expedition 47. This team has gone to microgravity to investigate spaceflight’s effect on the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neurovestibular systems in the human body. The crew members are also trying to discover how to make the workout equipment more practical and create more room for future space crews during long-duration missions. The Expedition 47 began on March 1, 2016 and will end on June 5, 2016. This three month long research expedition

It has become such an iconic idea, that most if not all children in the last 60 years have thought that they would be alive to see the expedition, if not be part of it themselves. Of course, space travel is not a simple there and back scenario. As seen in the American Apollo program, there are many places throughout a mission where things can and most defiantly will go wrong with technology. In addition, there are inevitably even more challenging obstacles for a mission to face once they get into space. These challenges include loss of muscle, bone, and suppression of the human immune systems and over time we have found that these bodily effects seem to become progressively worse the longer an astronaut travels through space. Before we even begin discussing when we should attempt land manned space missions on other planets, we need a better understanding of the effect of long term space travel and occur in the first place and find ways to combat them so that prolonged space travel is not destructive to the human

From 1961 to 1972, the government-funded organization NASA ran the Apollo program, which attempted to land humans on the Moon and bring them back to Earth safely. Of the program’s 16 successful flights, five flights landed men on the Moon and a total of twelve men walked on the Moon. Samples taken from the Moon’s surface paved the way for enormous discoveries and increased understanding about space, natural elements and our Moon’s composition. However, one aspect of discovery that the Apollo missions enabled was the discovery of the human body’s reaction to space and weightless environments.

Not just does space travel affect the body, but it also affects the mind. Sometimes when astronauts come back from space they have space madness. Even though astronauts will face serious health dangers, some people think humans can make better explorations than

How long would a “long term” space flight be? According to our records, the longest that human has been off Earth is almost 438 days, and it is the mission operated by Russian space station Mir. (Beings not Made for Space, Kenneth Chang, 2014) Long-term space flight requests that astronauts have to be exposed to the real space environment, which includes microgravity, the significant increase in radiation, variation in temperature and space view. The major impacts that I will be talking about are microgravity and space radiation. Due to these changes of space environment from that of the Earth, astronauts will face the changes on their body and health, some of the changes would be negative. For example, astronauts will see the significant changes in their body; their whole bodies will expand, the mass of their bones and muscles would lose, and some of them might have farsighted eyes. There will also be increase in risk of Alzheimer’s disease, damage in immune system and destroys of microbiomes. To build a better space environment, scientists have been working hard to find out what is causing the health issues and ways to solve them. They have done well-known researches such as “Twins Study” between Mark and Kelly Scott. The latest technology that involved is called artificial gravity; it is considered desirable for long-term space flight as well as human habitat in space.

Among all of the wildest things mankind has dreamed of, traveling among the stars has been among the top. Space travel has rightfully been romanticized into a fantastic voyage of discovery and adventure, but there is much more to it than what the movies show. Every detail must be considered when bringing space flight into reality, and that includes the dangers and how to safely dive into deep space.

This career requires extremely specific health standards each trainee must meet to become eligible to go on a mission. The space physical is extremely similar to the military flight physical except for a few differences. The vision of the trainee must have a visual acuity of 20/200, or must be correctable to 20/20 in each eye. For every crewmember, extensive amounts of medical test are run before take off due to the high-risk situations encountered in this career. A blood pressure of 140/90 is considered impeccable for anyone aspiring to achieve the status of an astronaut. However, any slight variation in this number is considered a medical