"It's really bad in space": astronauts tell the truth about space sickness
US astronaut Anna Fischer, the first mother in the history of mankind to have been in space (before her, only women who did not know the joy of motherhood plowed the expanses of the universe), told the truth about space sickness. Officially, there is no such ailment, but there is a space adaptation — a whole range of factors that cause maximum discomfort to astronauts. And if it is easier for a trained specialist who finds himself in orbit to cope with them, then it will be more difficult for a space tourist who has bought a ticket outside the stratosphere. Much more.
Dr. Fischer, by her own admission, is very concerned about space tourism, which suits, for example, the company Virgin Galactic. More precisely, the astronaut's experiences are associated with damage to the health of people who are not properly prepared for flights into orbit. Fisher herself visited space back in 1984, going on a flight on the space shuttle Discovery.
Aerospace companies such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX hope to launch commercial flights into space within the next ten years. However, potential tourists are already buying tickets now. It is known that Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio have already bought such tickets. In addition, the late physicist Stephen Hawking planned to fly with Virgin Galactic earlier this year. Unfortunately, the flight did not take place.
But back to space sickness. According to The Telegraph, the members of the Apollo 8 team (1968) were the first to report on the most complex adaptation of the human body to an extraterrestrial stay. Then the crew of Apollo 9 reported feeling unwell, which is why the astronauts' spacewalk was postponed. It is also reported that the NASA training aircraft, where astronauts experience weightlessness, is colloquially called a "vomiting comet" — so the tests lead the human body into a bad state.
And let's not forget that microgravity seriously affects metabolism, heat regulation, heart rate, muscle tone, bone density, vision and respiratory system.
In 2016, a study was published in the United States, according to which astronauts who traveled to the Moon were five times more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases than those who worked in low orbit or never left Earth at all.
And last 2017, Russian scientists discovered that microgravity causes changes in the immune system. For example, if astronauts catch a cold, they will have to be treated for several months to recover. In May of this year, the impact of space flights on heart and lung cells was confirmed.
Smith Johnson, a staff surgeon at NASA, is also concerned about the impact of space flights on human health. According to him, many astronauts return to Earth as "boneless chickens." Upon their return, they have to restore their health from several weeks to several months.
According to Johnson, after returning from space, the human spine adapts to the gravity of the Earth for several weeks. Therefore, space travelers are about 13 times more likely to suffer from erased intervertebral discs.
Finally, we note that in 2017 a study on the so-called space fever was published. Scientists examined 11 astronauts who had been in orbit for a long time. The focus of the study was on the body temperature of each astronaut. The conclusions were eloquent — after a month in space, people's body temperature rose by at least one degree Celsius. This gave scientists the right to talk about the potential threat of fever in astronauts.
And one more interesting fact. The above-mentioned space agencies are concerned about solar and space radiation. There is still no way to protect astronauts one hundred percent from long visits to Mars or the Moon.
Keywords: NASA | Angelina Jolie | Brad Pitt | Leonardo DiCaprio