Author Topic: Health effects of prolonged microgravity  (Read 2067 times)

Offline Hop_David

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Health effects of prolonged microgravity
« on: 04/26/2010 05:46 pm »
Some folks have argued that prolonged microgravity is no big deal. They usually point out Valeri Polyakov spent 14 months in space and that he's none the worse for wear. I used to use that argument

But then I came across someone saying health effects of prolonged microgravity are serious and difficult to recover from. But I didn't memorize the URL. When I've try to rediscover it, I get avalanches of irrelevant hits. My Google Fu isn't up to the task

I have found the Wikipedia article Spaceflight osteopenia which says

"Astronauts lose an average of more than 1% bone mass per month spent in space. There is concern that during long duration flights, excessive bone loss and the associated increase in serum calcium ion levels will interfere with execution of mission tasks and result in irreversible skeletal damage"

But I didn't see any cites of astronauts who have suffered irreversible damage.




Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Health effects of prolonged microgravity
« Reply #1 on: 04/26/2010 05:49 pm »
I've just learned that the Russians have been using resistive suits ("Penguin" suits) to emulate the stress of gravity for long-duration missions ever since the 1970s. Perhaps this helps considerably? I don't remember hearing about NASA ever using something like this, but I could be wrong. Is this still standard practice for the Russians?
« Last Edit: 04/26/2010 06:43 pm by Robotbeat »
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Offline Jim

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Re: Health effects of prolonged microgravity
« Reply #2 on: 04/26/2010 06:39 pm »
I've just learned that the Russians have been using resistive suits ("Penguin" suits) to simulate the stress of gravity for long-duration missions ever since the 1970s. Perhaps this helps considerably? I don't remember hearing about NASA ever using something like this, but I could be wrong. Is this still standard practice for the Russians?

NASA used them on MIR and the early ISS flights.

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