How does brief space travel affect the human body?

[New Sancai Compilation and First Release] Space tourists experience some of the same physical changes as astronauts who spend months in orbit, according to a new study.

The researchers report that these changes largely returned to normal once the amateurs returned to Earth.

The study of four space tourists is included in a series of studies on the health effects of space travel, right down to the molecular level. Researchers say the findings paint a clearer picture of how people without years of training as astronauts adapt to the weightlessness and radiation of space.

"For whatever reason, this will make us better prepared to send humans into space," said Allen Liu, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the study.

NASA and other agencies have long studied the toll of space travel on astronauts, including permanent residents of the International Space Station, but less attention has been paid to space tourists. The first time a tourist visited the space station was in 2001, and opportunities for private space travel have increased in recent years.

Susan Bailey, a radiation expert at Colorado State University who participated in the study, said the three-day charter flight in 2021 gave researchers the opportunity to examine how the body responds and adapts to space flight.

In this study, blood, saliva, skin and other samples were collected from four passengers on the SpaceX flight named Inspiration 4. The researchers analyzed the samples and found widespread changes in the cells and changes in the immune system. Most of these changes stabilized within a few months after the four returned home, and the researchers found that short-term spaceflight did not pose significant health risks.

"This is the first time we've examined cell-by-cell in astronauts in space," said co-author Chris Mason, a researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College.

The papers, published June 11 in the journal Nature, include the effects of spaceflight on the skin, kidneys and immune system. Afshin Beheshti, a researcher at the Blue Marble Space Science Institute who was involved in the work, said the results could help researchers find ways to offset the negative effects of space travel.

(Compiled by: Wang Jimin)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: Compiled and published by New Sancai)