How space changes an astronaut’s body - Tejal Gala
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Imagine a scientist who has teleported to space. His spacesuit’s pressurized air protects his bodily fluids from vaporization, its oxygen tank keeps him breathing, and the insulation prevents him from freezing. But although these features thwart an immediate tragedy, space is still an incredibly dangerous place. So, what does a prolonged stay in space do to the human body? Tejal Gala investigates.
Additional Resources for you to Explore
For as long as life has been known to exist, it has been evolving and adapting to the conditions on Earth. Our complex biological machinery is the product of billions of years of fine-tuning, and that makes us extremely well-suited to live on this beautiful planet we call home. That also makes us not so well-suited to leaving it!
Space and the conditions of spaceflight pose numerous challenges to astronauts, especially on a long-duration mission…for example, to Mars! NASA’s Human Research Program grouped these challenges into the five categories below, and you can read more about each of them here:
-Space radiation
-Altered level of gravity
-Isolation and confinement
-Distance from Earth
-Environment within the spacecraft
Together, these factors affect the human body and mind in countless ways. At this NASA webpage, you can learn about the plethora of impacts of space travel on astronauts’ physical and mental health, as well as strategies to reduce the risks. Browse NASA’s Human Research Roadmap for an even deeper dive. You can also watch this documentary by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), or sign up for Duke University’s free Space Medicine course on Coursera.
To learn about current research at the intersection of space and health, check out Johns Hopkins University’s Human Spaceflight Lab, NASA’s Human Research Program, Baylor University’s Center for Space Medicine, TRISH, and the University of Michigan’s Space Institute. These are just a few examples of organizations and laboratories around the world that are pushing the boundaries of our knowledge.
If you’d like to be involved, don’t hesitate to reach out to people who are doing this work. So much is waiting to be discovered, and the field of space medicine needs curious people like you!
Space and the conditions of spaceflight pose numerous challenges to astronauts, especially on a long-duration mission…for example, to Mars! NASA’s Human Research Program grouped these challenges into the five categories below, and you can read more about each of them here:
-Space radiation
-Altered level of gravity
-Isolation and confinement
-Distance from Earth
-Environment within the spacecraft
Together, these factors affect the human body and mind in countless ways. At this NASA webpage, you can learn about the plethora of impacts of space travel on astronauts’ physical and mental health, as well as strategies to reduce the risks. Browse NASA’s Human Research Roadmap for an even deeper dive. You can also watch this documentary by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), or sign up for Duke University’s free Space Medicine course on Coursera.
To learn about current research at the intersection of space and health, check out Johns Hopkins University’s Human Spaceflight Lab, NASA’s Human Research Program, Baylor University’s Center for Space Medicine, TRISH, and the University of Michigan’s Space Institute. These are just a few examples of organizations and laboratories around the world that are pushing the boundaries of our knowledge.
If you’d like to be involved, don’t hesitate to reach out to people who are doing this work. So much is waiting to be discovered, and the field of space medicine needs curious people like you!
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Tejal Gala
- Director Henrique Barone
- Narrator Jack Cutmore-Scott
- Storyboard Artist Henrique Barone
- Animator Diego MacLean, Francesca Colombara, Henrique Barone, Javier Ibañez Garcia
- Compositor Henrique Barone
- Art Director Anat Efrati, Francesca Colombara, Greg Kletsel, Jay Cover, Jared Chapman
- Sound Designer Jan Willem De With
- Composer Jan Willem De With
- Produced by Gerta Xhelo, Abdallah Ewis
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Editorial Producer Dan Kwartler
- Script Editor Iseult Gillespie
- Fact-Checker Charles Wallace
