- Scientists are learning what short and long-duration space missions do to human bodies.
- Some changes are common like a puffier face, bone loss, and less sleep.
- Here are nine ways the harsh conditions of space can change the human body.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to Earth on Tuesday after spending nine months in space.
The two were stranded on the International Space Station after their Boeing spaceship malfunctioned and they had to wait for a SpaceX spaceship to become available to bring them home.
Nine months in space isn’t a record by any means, but it’s long enough that Williams and Wilmore likely saw some changes to their bodies during their time on the ISS.
As with any astronaut, “there’s a muscular and cardiovascular reconditioning that has to happen,” Steve Stich, tk, said in a briefing after the duo splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Much of what scientists are learning about how space affects the human body comes from NASA’s research on astronauts staying on the ISS, like its Twins Study: a research program involving former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who lived in space for nearly a year, and his identical twin brother, Mark, who lived on the ground at the same time.
Indeed, Stich said, “every single crew member that we fly in orbit, we collect medical research data,” including drawing blood, measuring bone density, and testing vision multiple times throughout their space mission.
The lack of gravity, higher radiation exposure, space-compatible diet, and other facts of life in orbit affected Scott’s body in significant and surprising ways. While Wilmore and Williams weren’t in space for as long as Scott, they likely experienced similar changes though perhaps not as extreme.
Here are nine biological oddities that researchers have found might happen to your body if you live in space for a long time.
