At the end of March this year, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail
Kornienko launched into space to start a year-long mission at the International Space Station
And they did this to test the effects of long-term space travel on the human body.
This’ll be the longest trip ever taken by a NASA astronaut.
Most trips usually last between 4-6 months.
There are a bunch of issues with spending time in space we already know about — muscles
waste away, there’s bone loss, and circulatory system troubles.
“It’s amazing how your body adapts to this environment and how it remembers actually
being here”
Space programs have ways of preparing astronauts for space itself: there’s underwater practice,
there’s parachute training, there’s even this airplane called the “vomit comet”
that simulates zero-G.
But staying healthy in space is a bit different.
Exercise is a big issue.
On Earth, our muscles and bones stay strong because we have to constantly fight against
gravity.
Without gravity, they get weak, and that can prevent astronauts from doing important physical
tasks on the job.
To prevent this, they’re required to do up to two and a half hours of exercise per
day, strapped into cycling machines, treadmills, and resistance lifting machines.
During long periods in space, astronauts also develop a weakened immune system.
It doesn’t adapt the way it does back on earth, which leaves astronauts prone to infection
due to immune system dysregulation.
And this his is a pretty recent discovery.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure what causes this to happen — it could be any combination
of lack of sleep, zero gravity, radiation, and isolation.
Even beyond the physical complications, the psychological aspect is significant, too.
Astronauts are in tight, closed conditions with other people, and their days are not
defined by natural light.
The Space Station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, which comes out to about 16 times
per day.
Even just getting a good night’s rest can be difficult: over 75 percent of astronauts
report using sleeping pills regularly.
Scott Kelly’s twin brother Mark is a retired astronaut, and he’s serving as a live subject
of comparison for the effects of spending time in space.
And the more we understand about this, the closer we get to longer and bigger projects
in the final frontier.