Virgin Galactic

As the fiery pillar of smoke climbed ever faster towards the night sky, I stood mouth agape at age five as I watched the launch of the Discovery Space Shuttle in Cape Canaveral, birthing my fascination with the depths of space. At age eighteen, my sense of purpose was clearer than ever in a high school classroom while watching footage of the spacewalk mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, an inspiration for me to pursue higher education in engineering with aspirations of becoming an astronaut. By age twenty three, I had been working at my first full time job as an engineer for the Department of Defense for nearly a year when I unexpectedly failed a flight physical due to minor, yet untreatable, health conditions. Now, realizing that my chances of becoming an astronaut are beyond my control, my reasoning for undertaking graduate work is to enable myself to contribute to a field that ultimately helps others do the things their bodies keep them from doing. I want to help put those people back in control of doing the things they dream to do.

Osteoporosis, meaning porous bone from the Greek language, is bone disease that gradually and steadily wears down bone tissue and its living cells. This wearing down will eventually cause the cells of bone tissue to degrade and die, leaving their “scaffolding” to be the only things only bone together. Without living cells to take up a home in this scaffolding, minor injuries such as falls, bumping into objects, and pressure that would normally be completely and would not pose any threat to bone tissue suddenly becomes a real hazard that can easily pose a threat to one’s well-being. Osteoporosis affects a person skeletal system.

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

During the Apollo space missions, as well as later missions, American astronauts encountered a new phenomenon, space motion sickness. American scientists wanted to know what was causing this sickness, and looked to Russian research for answers, as Russian cosmonauts had encountered this phenomenon before. Historically, Russian scientists attributed the sickness to fluid shift, a process where decreased gravity allows fluids in the body to move headward. This can cause imbalances in hormones or neurotransmitters. It can also increase intracranial pressure, including in the inner ear, causing difficulties in the vestibular area of the ear. A more recent theory attributes the problem to sensory conflict. Through research and experimentation, scientists

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.

As generally stated in the introduction, osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder that involves the strength and integrity of one’s bones. The WHO defines osteoporosis as, “a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low-bone mass, deterioration of bone tissue, increased bone fragility, and its susceptibly to recurrent fractures.” 2 The most important factor to take into account when addressing osteoporosis is the mass of bone, also referred to as, bone mineral density (BMD). As bone mass begins to decline, typically in the older population, specifically postmenopausal women, individuals are at an increased risk for fractures.3 As a result of this serious condition, many people are affected by morbidity, mortality, and economic difficulty.1

Some people think that space exploration has no values, but according to John Kennedy “ So research in space medicine holds the promise of substantial benefit for those of us who are earthbound.” This evidence shows that people may think that space exploration doesn’t have values but it could tremendously help us with medical research. JFK made another valid point stating that “ Whatever the difficulties, they will be overcome.” This information shows that it may become difficult at times and that may make people want to quit but that should make them strive to get better and get the job

For my original, scientifically-correct science fiction article that I will be writing later on this quarter, I plan to describe the dangers that astronauts face when traveling to outer space. Not only are there numerous unknowns that may arise as challenges, but there are very real health risks that must be addressed. Among those risks are the effects of long term space travel, and the lack of adaptation by the human body, as well as the high amounts of radiation that are present outside of the protection that the Earth provides. To better understand the radiation exposure that astronauts must deal with in space, I will define the risks of exposure to

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a disease that disproportionately affects postmenopausal women. It is an important disease for public health to address as it greatly contributes to frailty and risk of injury, largely due to fractures, and the associated burdens on the health care system. Literally translating to “porous bones”, osteoporosis occurs when bones lose their density, and the inner bone matrix becomes much more brittle (Figure 1).1,2 Health adult bones are in a constantly dynamic state, with living cells that multiply to grow and repair bones as we age. Bones structurally consist of a hard, calcified outer layer, and an inner matrix made of collagen and non-collagen proteins.3 Healthy bone mass, and the structure of this inner matrix, is maintained through processes called resorption and remodeling.1 Resorption occurs as some cells dissolve bone matrix for the body to reabsorb and reuse the minerals, and remodeling occurs simultaneously as other cells deposit new bone matrix proteins to replace the dissolved minerals. Each remodeling activity is associated with a slight net loss in bone mass, and as such, healthy adults achieve peak bone density in their early 20s, and bone density gradually declines thereafter.1,4

There are still new discoveries being made all the time, especially with the length of time that astronauts are spending in space increasing. A revolutionary study, conducted by NASA will send one identical twin into space for a full year, while the other remains on Earth. Measurements will be taken of both twins before, during, and after the year, which will hopefully provide even more insight into exactly how prolonged stays in space affect the body. One specific experiment that will be done will involve giving each twin identical flu vaccines. This will allow researchers to study and compare their immune reactions [2]. Human space travel is important for the advancement of humankind and the furthering of our knowledge about space. Understanding how microgravity affects the body and finding solutions to keep people healthy in space are areas that have much work to be done, but are improving due to the dedication and hard work of researchers and astronauts

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

Space tourism, which offers a unique type of adventure, is no longer a dream or fantasy, but it is nearly materialized. Currently, companies in Russia, Europe, and the United States are competing to become future leaders of space tourism. Bigelow

As many already know the Earth is constantly pulling us in a downward direction, this of course includes our organs and bodily fluids like blood. The fact that our bodies do not constantly have trouble suppling blood to the brain is a miracle of biology known as a baroreceptor, a part of an artery that detects and keeps blood pressure constant to the upper half of the body (DeCampli, 1986). In space, the baroreceptors of the body work too well. In the absence of gravity, there is no need for baroreceptors but the body still tries to compensate for “gravity” and thus the upper half of the body has anywhere from 1/2- 2 L of blood which in turn leads to face swelling, loss of circulation in the legs, and an increase in urine to try and get rid of the bodies “excess” liquid (DeCampli, 1986). The problem is not so much during the trip as its aftereffects. Over time, the body actually stops compensating for gravity and when they get back to Earth, astronauts have to basically relearn to compensate (DeCampli, 1986) and deal with a heart that may have been enlarged from all the extra fluid in the torso (David, 1992). If there was a way to stops this from occurring in the first place, it would be of great benefit. Unfortunately, trying to exercise to promote greater circulation have not helped to reduce the blood imbalance (David, 1992). The added liquid to the upper body also affects the eye sight. As the brain has an

Osteoporosis is an intricate chronic disease that regularly goes undetected for multiple years before symptoms such as a bone fracture occur (Huether & McCance, 2012). It is a disease that compromises bone density, making it porous and is a serious health threat to aging adults (Watts, 2011). According to Huether & McCance (2012), Osteoporosis is not necessarily a result of the aging progression but it is the most common disease that affects bone, and it is most common in elderly individuals. During osteoporosis, there is a point where new bone is not being made faster than the old bone is being reabsorbed, leaving the bones to be porous and weak, with low density. Eventually, the weak bone becomes so weak that it is unable to support

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.