Space Travel tagged posts

Impacts of Space Travel on Astronauts’ Eye Health

A graphic of an eye reflecting a galaxy.
Image: Kaitlyn Johnson/Texas A&M Engineering

As space travel becomes more common, it is important to consider the impacts of space flight and altered gravity on the human body. Led by Dr. Ana Diaz Artiles, researchers at Texas A&M University are studying some of those impacts, specifically effects on the eye.

Gravitational changes experienced by astronauts during space travel can cause fluids within the body to shift. This can cause changes to the cardiovascular system, including vessels in and around the eyes.

As the commercialization of space flight becomes more common and individual space travel increases, astronauts will not be the only ones experiencing these changes...

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New insights on Health effects of Long-duration Space Flight

snow-capped peaks of the Andes Mountains, seen from the International Space Station
The snow-capped peaks of the Andes Mountains in southern Chile are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited above South America in November 2020. Photo: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Among the new findings, the research team found that chronic oxidative stress during spaceflight contributed to the telomere elongation they observed. They also found that astronauts had shorter telomeres after spaceflight than they did before.

The historic NASA Twins Study investigated identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly and provided new information on the health effects of spending time in space.

Colorado State University Professor Susan Bailey was one of more than 80 scientists across 12 universities who conducted research on the textbook experiment; M...

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Space Travel can Adversely Impact Energy Production in a cell

Studies of both mice and humans who have traveled into space reveal that critical parts of mitochondria can be made dysfunctional due to changes in gravity, radiation exposure and other factors, according to investigators at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. These findings are part of an extensive research effort across many scientific disciplines to look at the health effects of travel into space. The research has implications for future space travel as well as how metabolic changes due to space travel could inform medical science on earth.

The findings appeared November 25, 2020, in Cell and are part of a larger compendium of research into health aspects of space travel that appears concurrently in Cell, Cell Reports, Cell Systems, Patterns, and iScience.

“My gr...

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