Dark side of the Moon

WASHINGTON: It may have been a giant leap for mankind but travelling to the Moon was a step back for the health of astronauts, research shows.

Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s exposed them to levels of radiation that heightened their risk of fatal heart disease, a study suggests.

Scientists compared causes of death for seven lunar astronauts and 35 who only orbited Earth. They found 43 percent of the Apollo astronauts died from a cardiovascular problem, compared with 11 percent of the other group.

The researchers, from Florida State University in the US, then exposed mice to simulated weightlessness and the type of radiation the Apollo astronauts would have encountered. Weightlessness did not appear to have contributed.

The researchers said: “These data suggest that human travel into deep space may be more hazardous to cardiovascular health than previously estimated.” – Daily Mail