After six months in space Major Tim faces a new challenge back on Earth

SCIENCE EDITOR HE may have just been honoured by the Queen after spending the last six months floating aboard the International Space Station, but next week Major Tim Peake will likely come back to Earth with a bump.

While Britain’s first official astronaut has remained in good health throughout his mission, scientists fear his return to Earth could herald lifelong medical implications.

Scientists at the US National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) have disclosed Major Peake could suffer impaired eyesight, brittle bones and even a speech impediment as the rigours of spaceflight begin to take hold.

Dorit Donoviel, head of the NSBRI, said the British astronaut would experience problems including “standing up, stabilising, walking and turning” after landing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. “On Earth, a complex, integrated set of neural circuits allows humans to maintain balance, stabilise vision and understand body orientation in terms of location and direction,” he said. “In space, this pattern of information is changed. The inner ear, which is sensitive to gravity, no longer functions as designed.”

In the short term, scientists fear Major Peake will be plagued by headaches, sweating, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, while the acute pangs of entry motion sickness may even prevent him from communicating with his family on his return.

Their evidence suggests his sensory functions will go into overdrive on reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, which can result in dizziness and vertigo. His lips and tongue will have also become used to speaking while weightless, so he may struggle to talk and greet his family when he lands.

Named by researchers as readaptation, the process can take between six weeks and three years, as the brain begins to recover from being deprived of information from the vestibular system, which controls motion, equilibrium and orientation. In Major Peake’s case, the strong sensation of heavy limbs will set in as fluids begin to flow from his head and upper back to the lower body.

Records show that 80 per cent of astronauts that have come before him suffered low blood pressure upon return, meaning he it could hinder every day aspects of Major Peake’s life, including walking or driving a car.

As a precaution he has been banned from driving for 21 days, and may even need to be stretchered from his landing vehicle due to the risk of fainting.

Research by Nasa also shows there is a high chance Major Peake will require glasses or contact lenses when he lands. The American space agency’s researchers found that near and distance vision became worse for 48 per cent of astronauts who had brief missions.

In spite of these challenges, Major Peake said this week he is most looking forward to rain splashing on his face. “This is going to sound truly remarkable but I most miss the rain,” he said. Despite the health challenges for Major Peake caused by weightlessness, he is looking forward to such earthly pleasures as the rain