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  • So you want to be an astronaut? Well I hope you have good health insurance!

  • Hi there spacewalking hopefuls! I’m Ian for DNews: Now….Space is a horrible, horrible

  • place. As soon as humans exit the lovely, snug atmosphere of Earth, the cosmos is out

  • to kill us. I’m not kidding; there’s radiation from the sun, cosmic rays from distant supernovas

  • and even chunks of space debris traveling faster than a speeding bullet!

  • These killers are a very real threat to astronauts in space, but theyre only the tip of the

  • iceberg.

  • After spending a record-breaking one year in space, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly reported

  • some rather uncomfortable issues with his prolonged exposure to the microgravity environment

  • onboard the International Space Station. Interestingly, when he landed on Earth in March, Kelly was

  • one and a half inches taller than when he was when he launched into orbit. The lack

  • of Earth’s gravity caused his spine to expand, which quickly got squashed again after landing.

  • And this underscores an astronaut’s biggest problem in space: Gravity. Or the lack of

  • it.

  • Kelly complained of muscle pain; his eyesight was temporarily altered and his skin became

  • ultra-sensitive after he landed. Immediately after reaching Earth, his blood pressure dropped

  • -- his heart wasn’t used to pumping in a gravitational environment, so dizziness and

  • temporary loss of balance were obvious concerns. There’s always a period of adjustment to

  • Earth gravity after being in space, but Kelly’s mission was longer than most and some of his

  • health issues persisted.

  • Kelly’s one-year stint on the space station wasn’t designed to torture the veteran astronaut,

  • however. It was an experiment to see how the human body changes in space. And Kelly was

  • a special case; he had a twin brother, Mark, on Earth to act as his terrestrial control.

  • During his orbital stay, Kelly participated in a range of tests and had to engage in vigorous

  • exercise for 2 hours a day that all astronauts and cosmonauts have to endure to stave off

  • the effects of muscle atrophy. Bone wastage, that is common in osteoporosis patients on

  • Earth, is also an issue for astronauts. To combat it, many take the drug bisphosphonate

  • to counter the effects of bone loss. They also take supplements like calcium and vitamin

  • D, but the most effective counter to bone and muscle loss is lots and lots of exercise.

  • The future of space exploration will likely spawn a whole new sector in the pharmaceutical

  • market. If astronauts have problems sleeping (which is a common complaint while strapped

  • to your bed while speeding above Earth at over 17 THOUSAND miles per hour), they can

  • drop a sleeping pill. Feeling tired? Drop a Modafinil which, according to a 2009 Canadian

  • Medical Association Journal report, “is available to crew to optimize performance

  • while fatigued.”

  • Say if a crewmate starts acting erratic and becomes a danger to the rest of the crew?

  • Well, that’s why there are tranquilizers on board…. and duct tape. I’m not kidding.

  • So, medically-speaking, were still trying to figure this space thing out. Our bodies

  • are used to a gravitational environment with a 24-hour circadian cycle, not a microgravity

  • environment with a 90-minute orbital cycle, so there’s bound to be some problems.

  • But all these problems have surfaced while we live only a couple of hundred miles above

  • Earth -- how the heck are we going to deal with the health issues facing us when we finally

  • send astronauts to Mars?

  • During that long trip to Mars, our intrepid explorers will be bathed in radiation from

  • high-energy particles from the sun and deep space in the form of cosmic rays. When going

  • to Mars, well need spaceships equipped with some novel radiation shielding, but even

  • then theyll likely encounter a variety of unaccounted-for space radiation-related

  • cancers.

  • So, would I still want to be an astronaut? Actually, yes.

  • Humanity is really good at pushing the envelope and discovering new things about our universe.

  • The next big step is to see humanity on Mars and though it’s going to be a challenge,

  • I think well persevere, develop some really strong space drugs and eventually become a

  • true space-faring civilization.

  • To maintain muscle mass and strength, astronauts have some pretty cool machines to work out

  • with, check out Lizette’s space fitness video to find out more!

  • Knowing that a mission to Mars could kill you, would you still want to go? Tell us in

  • the comments section down below and don’t forget click subscribe for new episodes every

  • day. I’ll see you next time on DNews.

So you want to be an astronaut? Well I hope you have good health insurance!

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太空正試圖殺死我們!太空人如何生存 (Space Is Trying To Kill Us! How Astronauts Survive)

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    kurimulion 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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