Why Am I Taller?
What Happens to an Astronaut's Body in Space
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- 11,99 €
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- 11,99 €
Publisher Description
What happens in space that causes the body to change? Learn about life in space from astronauts
Is the human body built for Mars? NASA’s studies on the International Space Station show we need to fix a few things before sending people to the Red Planet. Astronauts go into space with good vision and come back needing eyeglasses. Cognition and DNA expression could be affected for years. And then there’s the discomfort of living in a tight space with crewmates, depression, and separation from the people you love.
Space doctors are on the case. You’ll meet the first twin to spend a year in space, the woman who racked up three physically challenging spacewalks in between 320 days of confinement, and the cosmonaut who was temporarily stranded on space station Mir while the Soviet Union broke up underneath him. What are we learning about the human body?
As astronauts target moon missions and eventual landings on Mars, one of the major questions is how the human body will behave in “partial gravity.” How does the human body change on another world, as opposed to floating freely in microgravity? What can studies on Earth and in space tell us about planetary exploration? These questions will be important to the future of space exploration and to related studies of seniors and people with reduced mobility on Earth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Astronaut Williams and Space.com writer Howell (Leadership Moments from NASA) consider the effects of space travel on human health in this insightful survey. Citing NASA's plan to send astronauts to Mars by the end of the century, the authors discuss what's being done to ensure astronauts survive the yearslong, multimillion-mile journey: there are "psychological safeguards" in case of onboard or at-home emergencies, studies underway on hibernation pods, and quarantine protocols to prevent interstellar disease transmission and the spread of spaceborne microbes. Astronauts will spend two and a half hours a day exercising to counter the loss of bone density and muscle tone that occurs in space, and will have to rely on new food sources for nutrition (possibly bugs, the authors suggest). Enormous challenges remain, the authors write, such as gathering information on "spaceflying seniors," for whom there's very little data. The authors' down-to-earth explanations and vivid descriptions are a treat, and especially enlightening are Williams's first-person accounts of being in space: "The changes started the moment after arriving... beginning with a mild headache and a puffy face that seemed to increase over the first few hours of the mission." This candid survey will delight armchair astronauts.
