As of Sept 26, 2024, two American astronauts are stuck on the International Space Station after concerns arose that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft normally used to return crew back to Earth was unsafe. Now those astronauts are stuck until February 2025, when they are scheduled to return on a SpaceX vehicle (yes, Elon Musk rides again). In the meantime they’re living with seven other astronauts on the space station; a recent BBC article delved into what life is like on a space station – in short, it’s harrowing! First off, space apparently “puts your bones and muscles into an accelerated ageing process”.
I looked it up, and a National Geographic article states that “the heart, blood vessels, bones, and muscles deteriorate more than 10 times faster in space than by natural ageing”! That’s not good news for anyone heading to Mercury anytime soon – but then I suppose not many of us will be making that trek despite a couple of space agencies sending probes there. It turns out that space is such an extreme environment that mitochondrial function and chemical balances can be triggered, which creates the effect of ageing. Luckily for astronauts many of the effects reverse when they return to Earth.
But ageing faster isn’t the only complication in space. To maintain body health in a zero gravity environment, the astronauts must work out for a couple hours each day or they will lose muscle mass. In zero gravity, all that sweat just clings to you – there’s nothi.