HEALTH EFFECTS OF MICROGRAVITY

Establishing artificial gravity could be key to protecting the health of astronauts on long-term space missions. For five decades NASA’S Human Research Program (HRP) has studied the effects of microgravity on the human body. They’ve found that deprived of the gravity of Earth, weight-bearing bones lose on average 1 to 1.5 per cent of mineral density during every month of spaceflight. Muscle mass is lost more rapidly in microgravity than it is on Earth. In addition, during spaceflight fluids in the human body can shift upwards putting pressure on the eyes that potentially lead to vision issues.

a NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg uses device to check eye health potentially impacted by microgravity