Human Body Not Fit for Outer Space

The average human being is made up of 60 percent water. When in outer space, body fluids float upward into the chest and head while the legs weaken and pressure inside the skull rises. As a result, NASA will now be monitoring the long-term implications of spending time in outer space.

These problems are new compared to others that have come up in the past, such as brittling of bone and eating and sleeping deficiencies. NASA has been working, or has already worked, to solve and understand those previous problems.

But these issues are ever more important since NASA plans to send humans to Mars by the 2030s. The longest any human has been in space was 438 days, which occurred between 1994 and 1995 (by Dr. Valery Polyakov of Russia, as described in this New York Times article). The mission to Mars will take about three years. Already, there are two private organizations that have had no problem attracting astronauts for a Mars exploration, regardless of the known and unknown health risks.

Another health issue that has made its way to the forefront is eyesight. In 2009, during a six-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS), Dr. Michael R. Barratt (a NASA astronaut and physician) and Dr. Robert B. Thirsk (a Canadian astronaut and physician) performed eye tests on each other because they both discovered they gradually had trouble seeing things close up. They confirmed a vision shift toward farsightedness as well as swelling in their optic nerves and blemishes on their retinas. Despite complaints in the past about changes in eyesight amongst astronauts, no one had studied the issue.

However, NASA recently announced the continued operation of the International Space Station at least until 2024 (in part for additional medical research). And they will be keeping a close eye on the health of Scott J. Kelly, who plans to spend one year on the ISS in the spring of 2015, which will be the longest for an American.

To read more about this issue, visit this article on the New York Times website.