The International Space Station is an amazing place for humans to experience the next frontier in exploration, but there are many dangers for those brave explorers. Obviously being hurled into a vacuum beyond Earth’s atmosphere at high velocity is very dangerous, but there are other dangers for those who stay in space for extended missions of six months to a year.
Extended missions cause a loss in bone density, muscular atrophy, and vision loss. The back of the eye is flattened and the optic nerve becomes inflamed. The structural changes are often permanent, and the astronauts experience blurred vision for the remainder of their lives. Per Noam Alperin of the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, the changes are due to an increase in cerebral fluid density which puts pressure on the eyes and the brain. His research can be viewed here.
NASA will attempt to simulate long term space conditions to find a way of preventing the physical harm that is currently befalling their astronauts.
