5 Ways the Cosmos Wants to Kill You
No. 5 Your Muscles get weaker
On Earth, lots of muscles used for maintaining
posture sitting, standing and so on, are also
affected by gravity.
Skeletal muscles have the ability to adapt
to different purposes and the different loads
placed on them, a quality known as plasticity.
But because of absence of gravity, muscles
atrophy, losing mass and strength.
During long spaceflights on the ISS, crew
members experienced a decrease in mean isokinetic
strength of between 8% and 17%.
Data suggests that around 30% of muscle strength
is lost after spending 110 to 237 days in
microgravity.
No. 4 Depressurization
If an astronaut is exposed to a space vacuum
without protection, his lungs would collapse,
while the water in the person's soft tissues
would vaporize, causing the body to swell
up.
Bubbles would form in the veins, blocking
blood flow, and the astronaut's bowels, bladder
and stomach would expel their contents.
If thats not bad enough, the bodily fluids
would decrease below the body's normal temperature,
causing the astronaut's saliva to boil on
his tongue.
No. 3 Sun Burns
A short exposure to Ultra-violet light generates
vitamin D in our bodies, but if we're out
in the sunlight too much, it can cause sunburns.
If an astronaut's skin was exposed to unfiltered
sunlight in space, though, they would develop
a very bad case of sunburn, cataracts, suppression
of the immune system, skin cancer and premature
aging of the skin.
But thanks to the many layers of ultra-violet
protection in the spacesuit, astronauts are
safe.
No. 2 Radiation
Ultra-violet light wont only give you sunburns.
If on Earth, you are protected by the atmosphere
from harmful radiation, then astronauts are
bombarded by such particles all the time.
A spaceship would have to have metal walls
that were 3 feet, or 1 meter to be safe.
The amount of radiation received by a 253-day
trip would be equivalent of a whole-body CT
scan every five or six days.
No. 1 Mental Problems
The space environment is pretty psychologically
stressful for astronauts.
Microgravity, fatigue and struggle with sleeplessness
from disruption of the circadian rhythm, the
intense, high-pressure workload all affect
ones mental health.
Even though NASA tries to select astronauts
who'll be able to function well mentally in
the stressful environment of space, astronauts
have suffered from mood and anxiety disturbances,
and the data suggests that the longer a mission
lasts, the greater the risk to astronauts'
mental health.
On a distant trip, this could be a big worry.
