Harmful profession

The negative consequences of a long stay in space have been proven by NASA on the example of gemini

Yulia Koshkina, Naked Science

According to the results of a long-term study of the health status of NASA twin astronauts, scientists have come to the conclusion that prolonged space flights negatively affect the human body. This understanding is especially important now, in connection with the preparation of a manned flight to Mars.

Twins Scott and Mark Kelly have been participating for several years in a special NASA program studying the impact of space flights on the human body. Scott (left) has 520 days in space under his belt, while 340 of them he continuously stayed on the International Space Station in 2015-2016. His brother Mark, who became a control "sample", made several shuttle flights, his total space "experience" is only 54 days.

A year spent in space continuously is a very long time by today's standards, but researchers are preparing for future flights to Mars, and this journey is likely to take about three years. The experiment with the Kelly brothers is a unique opportunity to study the state of the human body, which has spent almost a year in space.

Until then, it was known that during space travel, bones and muscles weaken, there is a violation of the water-salt balance, in some cases astronauts returned to Earth with irreversible visual impairments. The Gemini study allowed us to obtain new data. It is noted that some changes disappeared only a few hours or days after landing, others remained after six months.

1. Scott's telomeres grew and became longer than his brother's, but within two days after the space flight they returned to normal. Overall, about 7% of Scott's genes had long-term changes, the other 93% quickly returned to normal. Telomeres are the end sections of chromosomes that help DNA replication and shorten over time, since DNA polymerase is not able to synthesize a copy of DNA from the very end. Telomere length is often associated with a person's life expectancy and his predisposition to diseases.

2. Scott did not have a significant decrease in cognitive abilities during his stay in space, but the researchers saw a clear decrease after he landed. Perhaps this was due to adaptation to the gravity of the Earth and the busy schedule in which Scott worked after the end of the mission, according to NASA representatives.

3. The researchers also revealed a change in the level of nutrients in the body, signs of oxygen starvation, as well as a large number of different inflammations.

More detailed information about the study will be published later this year, NASA said.

Earlier, the head of the Mars One project, Bas Lansdorp, called the deadline for landing a person on the Red Planet.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru