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Released June 11, 2024 at 9:32 pm
Space tourists experience similar physical changes to astronauts who spend months in orbit, according to a new study published Tuesday.
The researchers reported that these changes largely returned to normal once the amateurs returned to Earth.
The study of the four space travelers is part of a series of studies looking at the health effects of space travel, all the way down to the molecular level.
The researchers said the findings provide a clearer picture of how people who have not had years of astronaut training adapt to weightlessness and space radiation.
Space tourists experience similar physical changes to astronauts who spend months in orbit, according to a new study published Tuesday. AP
“This will allow us to be better prepared if and when we do send humans into space for any reason,” said Allen Liu, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the research.
NASA and other agencies have long studied the hazards of space travel, including for astronauts who spend a year aboard the International Space Station, but space tourists have received less attention.
The first tourists visited the space station in 2001, and opportunities for private space tourism have expanded in recent years.
Susan Bailey, a radiation expert at Colorado State University who worked on the study, said the three-day charter flight in 2021 gave researchers the opportunity to examine how quickly the body responds to spaceflight and adapts.
While in space, the four passengers on the SpaceX flight, named Inspiration 4, collected blood, saliva, skin and other samples.
The study of the four space tourists is part of a series of studies looking at the health effects of space travel, down to the molecular level. Reuters
The researchers analysed the samples and found widespread cellular and immune system changes.
Most of these changes stabilized in the months after the crew returned, and researchers found that the short-term spaceflight did not pose any significant health risks.
“This is the first time we’ve tested every single cell on a space-going crew member,” said co-author Chris Mason, a researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine.
The findings provide a clearer picture of how people who have not undergone years of astronaut training adapt to weightlessness and space radiation, the researchers said. AP
The paper, published Tuesday in Nature and now part of the database, includes information about the effects of spaceflight on the skin, kidneys and immune system.
Afshin Beheshti, a researcher at the Blue Marble Space Science Institute who worked on the study, said the findings could help researchers find ways to counteract the negative effects of space travel.
Associated Press video journalist Mary Conlon contributed from New York.
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