After travelling 157.4 million miles and 5,963 orbits around the Earth, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio literally came down to Earth with a bump after after 371 days in the International Space Station becoming the second longest ever a human has stayed in space behind Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov who spent 437 days onboard the Mir Space Station in the mid 1990s.
His time in orbit was extended in March after the spacecraft he and his crewmates had been due to fly home in developed a coolant leak but when he finally did get back down he was greeted by Gravity and a hospital worth of medical services which is why the idea of a Mars mission which would see humans in space for 3 years seems still beyond us .
His extended trip in space will provide valuable insights into how humans can cope with long-duration spaceflight but we already know the effects of spaceflight on the human body from other space travellers and none of them are beneficial.
Muscle and bone mass quickly begins to diminish in space, as much as 2% for every month they spend in space and it can take four years for their bone mass to return to normal after returning to Earth.
The lack of gravity pulling down on their bodies also mean that their spines elongate slightly leading to issues such as back pain while in space and slipped disks once back on Earth and with no gravity, blood can accumulate in the head and pool at the back of the eye and around the optic nerve, leading to changes in the eyes structure.
Most seriously the prolonged journey into space damages an Astronauts DNA strands and a sharp drop in white blood cells which affects immunity so we shouldn't try to run before we can walk until science develops a way to travel faster then we can currently to shorten the trip, develop some form of artificial gravity aboard the rockets or we create a string of fully equipped regular stopping off points.
Sunday 15 October 2023
Down To Earth With A Bump
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2 comments:
the bone mass thing is close. i worked for an astronaut that lived on the MIR for 130 days - at the time the longest for an american in space.
when you see them walking on a treadmill with straps holding them to the treadmill, that is stopping the bone decay. they do many exercises to retain bone mass.
this may have changed by now, but at the time of john explaining this to me, there was no exercise to keep the spinal bones in the neck from deteriorating.
when he went to the MIR he had the bone mass of a young man, when he returned they told him that in his neck he had the bone mass of an 80 year old woman (women have a bigger issue with bone mass than men overall).
working for an active astronaut was very eye opening. he would tell us all the reasons we weren't going to another planet for decades - unless we are willing to sacrifice the astronauts.
NASA has something like a 50 year plan to get to Mars.
in addition to the health issues, there are logistic issues, and fuel issues.
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