Latest news with #CenterforSpaceBiomedicine
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NASA astronauts return home after major delay. Their extended stay could have health consequences
On March 14, a journey that was originally supposed to be a little over a week — but was stretched out to nine months — came to an end. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were selected for the first crewed test flight on Elon Musk's Starliner and were only supposed to stay at the International Space Station for 10 days, but when NASA discovered several helium leaks and propulsion system issues on the spacecraft, the agency decided to send it back empty until another mission could be sent up to get the astronauts. This isn't like some low-gravity version of "The Terminal," in which travelers are stuck in limbo due to some administrative glitch. Space can have devastating and profound health effects on astronauts, which means Williams and Wilmore's extended stay on the ISS could result in pronounced impacts on their bodies. Launching into space requires undergoing g-force more than double that of what we experience on Earth, which former NASA astronaut Dr. Sandy Magnus once described as feeling like having a '70-pound gorilla sitting on your chest.' But that's the last of gravity astronauts feel before reentering the Earth's atmosphere once their mission is complete, and once they enter orbit they will spend the rest of their time in space floating in their seats. But the effects of gravity — or lack thereof — are just the beginning of how space manipulates the human body. Everything from worsening eyesight to genetic changes to skin rashes that develop upon arrival — even no longer feeling accustomed to the touch of fabric on one's clothes — have been reported in people who have gone to space. 'In general, the environment in space causes an accelerated model for disease, and what we kind of say is an accelerated model for aging,' said Dr. Afshin Beheshti, director of the Center for Space Biomedicine at the University of Pittsburgh. 'But you don't age faster, it's just that all of the things associated with aging, like cardiovascular risk or cognitive issues … Everything is kind of sped up in space because of that environment." This week, four astronauts took off to the ISS, where the spacecraft will pick up Williams and Wilmore before returning home. At this point, Williams and Wilmore have been in space for nine months, joining just eight other astronauts who have spent more than 200 days in space. (NASA astronaut Frank Rubio holds the record at 371 days.) From what we know about the impacts of space on health, it will take them some time to recover from the journey. 'When we get back, even to lift a pencil we will feel the weight,' Wilmore said in a CNN interview last month. 'That's the transition back.' That's in part because on Earth, the force of gravity constantly acts on the skeleton, which stimulates bone-building cells called osteoblasts that maintain our bone density. Without that force, bone density and muscles can atrophy and weaken, with bones becoming 1% less dense for every month spent in space without any measures performed to combat bone Williams and Wilmore exercise daily to mitigate these effects, they will still likely have experienced significant bone density loss when they get back. Upon landing, Wilmore and Williams will be met with medical teams who can help them get started on a 45-day post-mission recovery program, said NASA's Lead Flight Surgeon Dr. Stevan Gilmore. "They work closely with trainers, dedicating two hours each day to return to their pre-flight baseline state of health and fitness," Gilmore wrote to Salon in an email. "Generally, most crewmembers' physiological systems recover within this timeframe." For comparison, after NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent one year in space, he had to learn how to walk again, Beheshti said. 'Being a year in space like that, it definitely takes a while for them to recoup the damage done,' Beheshti told Salon in a phone interview. Kelly participated in the Twin Study conducted by NASA, in which several biomarkers of his were compared to his twin brother (Sen. Mark Kelly) who stayed on Earth. After the space flight, Kelly had more symptoms of heart disease than his brother and showed symptoms of something called Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS), in which blood and cerebrospinal fluid travels upward from the legs to the head without the force of gravity, impacting the brain and vision. "He wasn't wearing glasses before he went, but he came back and started wearing glasses," Beheshti said. Additionally, disruptions to the body's internal clock can affect astronaut's sleeping and eating cycles. Some studies have also shown that astronauts' cognitive processing speeds were slower in space, although these changes returned to baseline upon return to Earth. Similar results were found in research testing cognition in civilians who went to space. "Sometimes people actually perform better in space, and they're more even more focused, in a way," said Dr. Chris Mason, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. "But sometimes people get a little slower. It really depends on the crew member." Radiation is also much stronger in space without the protective ozone layer on Earth to buffer it, and it can have several impacts on the body at the cellular level. For each week that astronauts spend on the ISS, the radiation they experience is equivalent to about one year's worth of exposure on Earth, although this can vary depending on how many solar flares or cosmic rays in space occur. That radiation has been shown to impact the cell's mitochondrial function, which can have downstream effects on the body, Beheshti said. 'The mitochondria is your bioenergetics, so your energy in your body is produced by all of the mitochondria in your cells,' Beheshti said. 'When the bioenergetics are damaged, you can imagine that it has detrimental effects … impacting your immune system and circadian rhythm.' Exposure to radiation at these levels has been associated with an elevated risk for heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative disorders that affect the eyes. Researchers have been able to measure several biomarkers in astronauts who went to space and found that exposure to radiation and antigravity significantly impacts immune function as well. In one 2024 study published in Communications Biology, Mason found that astronauts who spent time in space had longer telomeres, or structures at the end of chromosomes which protect DNA. Although longer telomeres have been associated with youth, they are also linked to certain cancers. Mason's research also found that several genes involved with the immune system were activated with space flight, presumably as a mounted response to the stress the body is put under in these conditions. 'There are also anti-inflammatory markers called interleukins which get activated, and we've seen some of them in almost every mission, so we would expect that they would also have them here,' Mason told Salon in a phone interview. 'We see a lot of genes for DNA repair get activated, like the body is detecting some of the damage and then repairing that damage, which is a normal adaptive response.' These effects increase the longer astronauts are in space, although about 95% of these cellular changes return to baseline within a few weeks of astronauts returning to Earth, Mason said. For Kelly, 90% of gene changes that he experienced returned back to normal within six months. In Mason's study, telomere changes returned to baseline within days, he said. Still, there are individual differences that can influence how quickly an astronaut bounces back and scientists are constantly researching what influences disease risk for astronauts. Scientists haven't yet figured out a way to fully block radiation, which interacts with the body as fast-moving invisible particles that can break up DNA. However, efforts are underway to test new small molecules in rodents that could improve resistance to radiation. This could have implications not just for astronauts in space but patients on Earth having to undergo invasive radiation therapies for cancer. Others are studying whether an induced form of 'artificial hibernation" could protect against some of the harmful effects of radiation. In recent studies, stimulating the same process that squirrels and bears go through in the winter has been shown to reduce the toxicity of radiation. 'When there's radiation damage caused to your body, you create reactive oxygen species and that causes downstream things to to impact your immune system and things like that while also suppressing your mitochondria,' Beheshti said. 'But when your body shuts down in that hibernation state, like in these animals, those reactive oxygen species stop getting produced as much, and then there seems to be less damage caused by the radiation.' Commercial space flight has taken off in recent years and billionaires like Musk are increasingly pushing a move to Mars, and these issues highlight the innate challenges humans — who have evolved over millions of years to live under the influence of Earth's gravity and atmosphere — face in trying to expand our reach in outer space. Wilmore and Williams will undoubtedly require some time to recover from their long journey, but they dedicated years to preparing for the experience. Still, they don't seem too bothered by the extra time they spent in orbit. 'I think both of us will be a little bit sad when that feeling of space leaves us after about 24 hours,' Williams said in the CNN interview last month. 'That means that physically the spaceflight came to an end.'
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NASA astronauts return home after major delay. Their extended stay could have health consequences
On March 14, a journey that was originally supposed to be a little over a week — but was stretched out to nine months — came to an end. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were selected for the first crewed test flight on Elon Musk's Starliner and were only supposed to stay at the International Space Station for 10 days, but when NASA discovered several helium leaks and propulsion system issues on the spacecraft, the agency decided to send it back empty until another mission could be sent up to get the astronauts. This isn't like some low-gravity version of "The Terminal," in which travelers are stuck in limbo due to some administrative glitch. Space can have devastating and profound health effects on astronauts, which means Williams and Wilmore's extended stay on the ISS could result in pronounced impacts on their bodies. Launching into space requires undergoing g-force more than double that of what we experience on Earth, which former NASA astronaut Dr. Sandy Magnus once described as feeling like having a '70-pound gorilla sitting on your chest.' But that's the last of gravity astronauts feel before reentering the Earth's atmosphere once their mission is complete, and once they enter orbit they will spend the rest of their time in space floating in their seats. But the effects of gravity — or lack thereof — are just the beginning of how space manipulates the human body. Everything from worsening eyesight to genetic changes to skin rashes that develop upon arrival — even no longer feeling accustomed to the touch of fabric on one's clothes — have been reported in people who have gone to space. 'In general, the environment in space causes an accelerated model for disease, and what we kind of say is an accelerated model for aging,' said Dr. Afshin Beheshti, director of the Center for Space Biomedicine at the University of Pittsburgh. 'But you don't age faster, it's just that all of the things associated with aging, like cardiovascular risk or cognitive issues … Everything is kind of sped up in space because of that environment." This week, four astronauts took off to the ISS, where the spacecraft will pick up Williams and Wilmore before returning home. At this point, Williams and Wilmore have been in space for nine months, joining just eight other astronauts who have spent more than 200 days in space. (NASA astronaut Frank Rubio holds the record at 371 days.) From what we know about the impacts of space on health, it will take them some time to recover from the journey. 'When we get back, even to lift a pencil we will feel the weight,' Wilmore said in a CNN interview last month. 'That's the transition back.' That's in part because on Earth, the force of gravity constantly acts on the skeleton, which stimulates bone-building cells called osteoblasts that maintain our bone density. Without that force, bone density and muscles can atrophy and weaken, with bones becoming 1% less dense for every month spent in space without any measures performed to combat bone Williams and Wilmore exercise daily to mitigate these effects, they will still likely have experienced significant bone density loss when they get back. Upon landing, Wilmore and Williams will be met with medical teams who can help them get started on a 45-day post-mission recovery program, said NASA's Lead Flight Surgeon Dr. Stevan Gilmore. "They work closely with trainers, dedicating two hours each day to return to their pre-flight baseline state of health and fitness," Gilmore wrote to Salon in an email. "Generally, most crewmembers' physiological systems recover within this timeframe." For comparison, after NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent one year in space, he had to learn how to walk again, Beheshti said. 'Being a year in space like that, it definitely takes a while for them to recoup the damage done,' Beheshti told Salon in a phone interview. Kelly participated in the Twin Study conducted by NASA, in which several biomarkers of his were compared to his twin brother (Sen. Mark Kelly) who stayed on Earth. After the space flight, Kelly had more symptoms of heart disease than his brother and showed symptoms of something called Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS), in which blood and cerebrospinal fluid travels upward from the legs to the head without the force of gravity, impacting the brain and vision. "He wasn't wearing glasses before he went, but he came back and started wearing glasses," Beheshti said. Additionally, disruptions to the body's internal clock can affect astronaut's sleeping and eating cycles. Some studies have also shown that astronauts' cognitive processing speeds were slower in space, although these changes returned to baseline upon return to Earth. Similar results were found in research testing cognition in civilians who went to space. "Sometimes people actually perform better in space, and they're more even more focused, in a way," said Dr. Chris Mason, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. "But sometimes people get a little slower. It really depends on the crew member." Radiation is also much stronger in space without the protective ozone layer on Earth to buffer it, and it can have several impacts on the body at the cellular level. For each week that astronauts spend on the ISS, the radiation they experience is equivalent to about one year's worth of exposure on Earth, although this can vary depending on how many solar flares or cosmic rays in space occur. That radiation has been shown to impact the cell's mitochondrial function, which can have downstream effects on the body, Beheshti said. 'The mitochondria is your bioenergetics, so your energy in your body is produced by all of the mitochondria in your cells,' Beheshti said. 'When the bioenergetics are damaged, you can imagine that it has detrimental effects … impacting your immune system and circadian rhythm.' Exposure to radiation at these levels has been associated with an elevated risk for heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative disorders that affect the eyes. Researchers have been able to measure several biomarkers in astronauts who went to space and found that exposure to radiation and antigravity significantly impacts immune function as well. In one 2024 study published in Communications Biology, Mason found that astronauts who spent time in space had longer telomeres, or structures at the end of chromosomes which protect DNA. Although longer telomeres have been associated with youth, they are also linked to certain cancers. Mason's research also found that several genes involved with the immune system were activated with space flight, presumably as a mounted response to the stress the body is put under in these conditions. 'There are also anti-inflammatory markers called interleukins which get activated, and we've seen some of them in almost every mission, so we would expect that they would also have them here,' Mason told Salon in a phone interview. 'We see a lot of genes for DNA repair get activated, like the body is detecting some of the damage and then repairing that damage, which is a normal adaptive response.' These effects increase the longer astronauts are in space, although about 95% of these cellular changes return to baseline within a few weeks of astronauts returning to Earth, Mason said. For Kelly, 90% of gene changes that he experienced returned back to normal within six months. In Mason's study, telomere changes returned to baseline within days, he said. Still, there are individual differences that can influence how quickly an astronaut bounces back and scientists are constantly researching what influences disease risk for astronauts. Scientists haven't yet figured out a way to fully block radiation, which interacts with the body as fast-moving invisible particles that can break up DNA. However, efforts are underway to test new small molecules in rodents that could improve resistance to radiation. This could have implications not just for astronauts in space but patients on Earth having to undergo invasive radiation therapies for cancer. Others are studying whether an induced form of 'artificial hibernation" could protect against some of the harmful effects of radiation. In recent studies, stimulating the same process that squirrels and bears go through in the winter has been shown to reduce the toxicity of radiation. 'When there's radiation damage caused to your body, you create reactive oxygen species and that causes downstream things to to impact your immune system and things like that while also suppressing your mitochondria,' Beheshti said. 'But when your body shuts down in that hibernation state, like in these animals, those reactive oxygen species stop getting produced as much, and then there seems to be less damage caused by the radiation.' Commercial space flight has taken off in recent years and billionaires like Musk are increasingly pushing a move to Mars, and these issues highlight the innate challenges humans — who have evolved over millions of years to live under the influence of Earth's gravity and atmosphere — face in trying to expand our reach in outer space. Wilmore and Williams will undoubtedly require some time to recover from their long journey, but they dedicated years to preparing for the experience. Still, they don't seem too bothered by the extra time they spent in orbit. 'I think both of us will be a little bit sad when that feeling of space leaves us after about 24 hours,' Williams said in the CNN interview last month. 'That means that physically the spaceflight came to an end.'
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Explainer-How does space travel affect astronaut health?
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The human body was not built for spaceflight, with its microgravity conditions, exposure to high-energy radiation and other issues. As a result, trekking beyond the Earth's confines causes many physiological changes that affect an astronaut's health. Here is an explanation of some of the effects on human health caused by space travel. WHY IS SPACE TRAVEL TOUGH ON THE HUMAN BODY? See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. The human body evolved over millions of years to function optimally in Earth's environment, which includes its gravity, atmospheric composition and relatively low levels of radiation. Space travel exposes people to quite a different environment, posing a range of physiological and psychological challenges, especially with prolonged exposure, according to Afshin Beheshti, director of the Center for Space Biomedicine at the University of Pittsburgh. As researchers seek new countermeasures to protect space travelers, more data is needed on astronauts with varying health backgrounds and undertaking different kinds of missions in order to map out personalized risk profiles and mitigation strategies, according to Chris Mason, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. WHAT ARE THE HAZARDS OF SPACE RADIATION? Unlike on Earth, where the atmosphere and planetary magnetic field provide a shield from space radiation, astronauts are exposed to high-energy radiation permeating the cosmos. This can lead to DNA damage, increased cancer risk, neurodegenerative effects, cardiovascular issues and immune system dysregulation. Earth's magnetosphere - the region of space dominated by the planetary magnetic field - provides some protection for astronauts in missions in low-Earth orbit. But astronauts traveling beyond that - such as on missions to the moon or Mars - would experience much higher radiation doses. WHAT DOES MICROGRAVITY DO? Gravity plays a critical role in regulating bodily functions. Its absence triggers widespread physiological adaptations, according to Beheshti. Without gravity, bodily fluids shift upward, leading to facial swelling and increased intracranial pressure, which can affect vision. The lack of mechanical loading on bones and muscles associated with the downward pull of gravity leads to bone density loss and muscle atrophy. In addition, the cardiovascular system undergoes major changes, including difficulty regulating blood pressure upon return to Earth. Prolonged exposure to microgravity conditions also affects vestibular function - the inner ear's ability to sense movement and orientation. That can cause balance and coordination issues. HOW ABOUT CONFINEMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS? Long-duration space missions require astronauts to live in confined and isolated environments with limited social interaction and exposure to natural stimuli. This, according to Beheshti, can lead to psychological stress, sleep disturbances, cognitive performance declines and mood disorders. The effects of prolonged isolation and close-quarters living among astronauts - during stints aboard space stations or longer future missions to destinations like Mars - could aggravate interpersonal conflicts, further impacting mental well-being and mission performance. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER RETURNING TO EARTH? How astronauts recover after returning to Earth depends in large part on mission duration. For short-duration missions of a few days in low-Earth orbit, about 95% of the biological damage sustained appears to be reversed upon return. For astronauts who spend months aboard the International Space Station, or ISS, recovery appears proportional to their time in space. Many physiological systems gradually return to normal. But some issues persist. One example is Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), linked to vision impairment due to microgravity-induced fluid shifts and changes in intracranial pressure affecting the eyes. Research suggests that dysfunction in subcellular structures called mitochondria plays a role in SANS. Some astronauts experience lasting impairment that may require corrective lenses. Questions remain about the effects of long-duration deep-space missions in which astronauts would experience much higher levels of space radiation and prolonged microgravity. Without effective countermeasures, recovery could be problematic. Researchers are actively developing mitochondrial-based countermeasures to mitigate space-induced damage. WHERE ARE THE GAPS IN WHAT WE KNOW? There are still gaps in the understanding of how spaceflight impacts human health. Relatively little is known about how it affects lung function. While it is known that space radiation elevates cancer risk, accelerates aging and induces cellular damage, the precise biological mechanisms remain elusive. Research has shown that mitochondria play a central role in spaceflight-induced health effects. The precise mechanisms of mitochondrial adaptation and dysfunction in space remain an area of active study. Scientists also lack a comprehensive understanding of how microgravity, radiation exposure and isolation impact cognitive function, mental health and neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to change and adapt - over long durations. HOW ABOUT HAVING BABIES IN SPACE? One significant knowledge gap is how spaceflight affects human reproduction and fetal development, according to Beheshti. Limited studies have been conducted on reproductive health in space, mostly involving animals such as mice. The complete implications for human fertility, embryonic development and long-term space habitation spanning generations remain unknown. This is especially important as humankind considers future space colonization efforts. WHAT HAS RECENT RESEARCH SHOWN? Research published in 2024 detailed changes in the brain, heart, muscles, kidneys and skin, immune regulation and stress levels and a breakdown in the activity of mitochondria among crew members who participated in SpaceX's three-day Inspiration4 mission in 2021 - the first all-civilian team to orbit Earth. Another study published in 2024 showed that astronauts are more likely to experience headaches in space than previously known. It involved 24 astronauts who traveled aboard the ISS for up to 26 weeks. All but two reported headaches. A study published in 2023 found that astronauts who traveled on the ISS or NASA space shuttles on missions lasting at least six months experienced expansion of the cerebral ventricles - spaces in the middle of the brain containing cerebrospinal fluid. Research published in 2022 documented bone loss in 17 ISS astronauts in missions averaging about 5-1/2 months. A year after returning to Earth, the astronauts on average exhibited 2.1% reduced bone mineral density of the tibia - one of the bones of the lower leg - and 1.3% reduced bone strength. Nine did not recover bone mineral density after the spaceflight.
