FLESH AND BLOOD IN SPACE

1 Corinthians 15:50

But this I say my brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit The Kingdom of Heaven, neither does corruption inherit indestructibility.

Space is  Inhospitable place to our Human body :Our Human Body made of flesh and Blood has negative effect on SPACE:

Space is Inhospitable place, where exposure to the perpetual vacuum will make your blood boil and your body burst; alternatively, if neither of those things happen, you’re bound to instantly freeze into a human-popsicle. Meanwhile, many of these same films conveniently ignore the slightly more subtle, yet highly relevant hazards of prolonged spaceflight even in an enclosed vessel at normal atmospheric pressure.

spaceflight has many negative effects on the body.The most significant adverse effects of long-term weightlessness are muscle atrophy and deterioration of the skeleton (spaceflight osteopenia).Other significant effects include a slowing of cardiovascular system functions, decreased production of red blood cells, balance disorders, and a weakening of the immune system. Lesser symptoms include fluid redistribution (causing the "moon-face" appearance typical in pictures of astronauts experiencing weightlessness),loss of body mass, nasal congestion, sleep disturbance, and excess flatulence. Most of these effects begin to reverse quickly upon return to Earth.

The engineering problems associated with leaving Earth and developing space propulsion systems have been examined for over a century, and millions of man-hours of research have been spent on them. In recent years there has been an increase in research on the issue of how humans can survive and work in space for extended and possibly indefinite periods of time. This question requires input from the physical and biological sciences and has now become the greatest challenge (other than funding) facing humanspace exploration. A fundamental step in overcoming this challenge is trying to understand the effects and impact of long-term space travel on the human body.

Direct exposure to the extreme environment of space

The environment of space is lethal without appropriate protection: the greatest threat in the vacuum of space derives from the lack of oxygen and pressure, although temperature and radiation also pose risks.

Extreme variations in temperature

In a vacuum, there is no medium for removing heat from the body by conduction or convection. Loss of heat is by radiation from the 310 K temperature of a person to the 3 K of outer space. This is a slow process, especially in a clothed person, so there is no danger of immediately freezing. Rapid evaporative cooling of skin moisture in a vacuum may create frost, particularly in the mouth, but this is not a significant hazard.

Exposure to the intense radiation of direct, unfiltered sunlight would lead to local heating, though that would likely be well distributed by the body's conductivity and blood circulation. Other solar radiation, particularly ultraviolet rays, however, may cause severe sunburn in a few seconds.

Increased radiation levels

Without the protection of Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere astronauts are exposed to high levels of radiation. A year in low-earth orbit results in a dose of radiation 10 times that of the annual dose on earth.High levels of radiation damagelymphocytes, cells heavily involved in maintaining the immune system; this damage contributes to the lowered immunity experienced by astronauts. Radiation has also recently been linked to a higher incidence of cataracts in astronauts. Outside the protection of low-earth orbit, galactic cosmic rays present further challenges to human spaceflight,[20] as the health threat from cosmic rays significantly increases the chances of cancer over a decade or more of exposure.Solar flare events (though rare) can give a fatal radiation dose in minutes. It is thought that protective shielding and protective drugs may ultimately lower the risks to an acceptable level.

Crew living on the International Space Station (ISS) are partially protected from the space environment by Earth's magnetic field, as the magnetosphere deflects solar wind around the earth and the ISS. Nevertheless, solar flares are powerful enough to warp and penetrate the magnetic defences, and so are still a hazard to the crew. The crew of Expedition 10 took shelter as a precaution in 2005 in a more heavily shielded part of the station designed for this purpose. However, beyond the limited protection of Earth'smagnetosphere, interplanetary manned missions are much more vulnerable. Lawrence Townsend of the University of Tennessee and others have studied the most powerful solar flare ever recorded. Radiation doses astronauts would receive from a flare of this magnitude could cause acute radiation sickness and possibly even death.

A video made by the crew of the International Space Station showing the Aurora Australis, which is caused by high-energy particles in the space environment.

There is scientific concern that extended spaceflight might slow down the body’s ability to protect itself against diseases.Radiation can penetrate living tissue and cause both short and long-term damage to the bone marrow stem cells which create the blood and immune systems. In particular, it causes 'chromosomal aberrations' in lymphocytes. As these cells are central to the immune system, any damage weakens the immune system, which means that in addition to increased vulnerability to new exposures, viruses already present in the body—which would normally be suppressed—become active. In space, T-cells (a form of lymphocyte) are less able to reproduce properly, and the T-cells that do reproduce are less able to fight off infection. Over time immunodeficiency results in the rapid spread of infection among crew members, especially in the confined areas of space flight systems.

Radiation has also been linked to a higher incidence of cataracts in astronauts. Soviet cosmonaut Valentin Lebedev, who spent 221 days in orbit in 1982 (an absolute record for stay in Earth’s orbit), lost his eyesight to progressive cataracts. Lebedev stated: “I suffered from a lot of radiation in space. It was all concealed back then, during the Soviet years, but now I can say that I caused damage to my health because of that flight.”

On 31 May 2013, The NASA scientists reported that a possible manned mission to Mars may involve a great radiation riskbased on the amount of energetic particle radiation detected by the RAD on the Mars Science Laboratory while traveling from the Earth to Mars in 2011-2012.

The effects of weightlessness

Astronauts on the ISS in weightless conditions. Michael Foale can be seen exercising in the foreground.

Following the advent of space stations that can be inhabited for long periods of time, exposure to weightlessness has been demonstrated to have some deleterious effects on human health. Humans are well-adapted to the physical conditions at the surface of the earth, and so in response to weightlessness, various physiological systems begin to change, and in some cases, atrophy. Though these changes are usually temporary, some do have a long-term impact on human health.

Short-term exposure to microgravity causes space adaptation syndrome, a self-limiting nausea caused by derangement of the vestibular system. Long-term exposure causes multiple health problems, one of the most significant being loss of bone and muscle mass. Over time these deconditioning effects can impair astronauts’ performance, increase their risk of injury, reduce their aerobic capacity, and slow down their cardiovascular system. As the human body consists mostly of fluids, gravity tends to force them into the lower half of the body, and our bodies have many systems to balance this situation. When released from the pull of gravity, these systems continue to work, causing a general redistribution of fluids into the upper half of the body. This is the cause of the round-faced 'puffiness' seen in astronauts. Redistributing fluids around the body itself causes balance disorders, distorted vision, and a loss of taste and smell.

Motion sickness

Main articles: Space adaptation syndrome and Motion sickness

Bruce McCandless floating free in orbit with a space suit and Manned Maneuvering Unit.

The most common problem experienced by humans in the initial hours of weightlessness is known as space adaptation syndrome or SAS, commonly referred to as space sickness. It is related to motion sickness, and arises as the vestibular system adapts to weightlessness.Symptoms of SAS include nausea and vomiting, vertigo, headaches, lethargy, and overall malaise. The first case of SAS was reported by cosmonaut Gherman Titov in 1961. Since then, roughly 45% of all people who have flown in space have suffered from this condition. The duration of space sickness varies, but rarely has it lasted for more than 72 hours, after which the body adjusts to the new environment.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,-Acts 17:26

Earth remains the only known planet to host life, due to a unique combination of factors. However, continued monitoring of alien worlds might one day change that, by finding other planets that share these attributes or by discovering other ways that life has found to blossom in the universe.

On Earth, our bodies react automatically to gravity, maintaining both posture and locomotion in a downward pulling world. In microgravity environments, these constant signals are absent: the otolith organs in the middle ear are sensitive to linear acceleration and no longer perceive a downwards bias; muscles are no longer required to contract to maintain posture, and pressure receptors in the feet and ankles no longer signal the direction of "down". These changes can immediately result in visual-orientation illusions where the astronaut feels he has flipped 180 degrees. Over half of astronauts also experience symptoms of motion sickness for the first three days of travel due to the conflict between what the body expects and what the body actually perceives. Over time however the brain adapts and although these illusions can still occur, most astronauts begin to see "down" as where the feet are. People returning to Earth after extended weightless periods have to readjust to the force of gravity and may have problems standing up, focusing their gaze, walking and turning. This is just an initial problem, as they recover these abilities quickly.[vague]

NASA jokingly measures SAS using the "Garn scale", named for United States Senator Jake Garn, whose sickness during STS-51-D was the worst on record. Accordingly, one "Garn" is equivalent to the most severe possible case of space sickness.By studying how changes can affect balance in the human body—involving the senses, the brain, the inner ear, and blood pressure—NASA hopes to develop treatments that can be used on Earth and in space to correct balance disorders. Until then, astronauts rely on medication, such as midodrine and dimenhydrinate anti-nausea patches, as required (such as when space suits are worn, because vomiting into a space suit could be fatal).

Loss of bone and muscle mass

Main article: Spaceflight osteopenia

Aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Frank De Winne is attached to the T2 treadmill with bungee cords

A major effect of long-term weightlessness involves the loss of bone and muscle mass. Without the effects of gravity, skeletal muscle is no longer required to maintain posture and the muscle groups used in moving around in a weightless environment differ from those required in terrestrial locomotion.In a weightless environment, astronauts put almost no weight on the back muscles or leg muscles used for standing up. Those muscles then start to weaken and eventually get smaller. Consequently some muscles atrophy rapidly, and without regular exercise astronauts can lose up to 20% of their muscle mass in just 5 to 11 days The types of muscle fibre prominent in muscles also change. Slow twitch endurance fibres used to maintain posture are replaced by fast twitch rapidly contracting fibres that are insufficient for any heavy labour. Advances in research on exercise, hormone supplements and medication may help maintain muscle and body mass.

Bone metabolism also changes. Normally, bone is laid down in the direction of mechanical stress, however in a microgravity environment there is very little mechanical stress. This results in a loss of bone tissue approximately 1.5% per month especially from the lower vertebrae, hip and femur.Due to microgravity and the decreased load on the bones, there is a rapid increase in bone loss, from 3% cortical bone loss per decade to about 1% every month the body is exposed to microgravity, for an otherwise healthy adult.The rapid change in bone density is dramatic, making bones frail and resulting in symptoms which resemble those of osteoporosis. On Earth, the bones are constantly being shed and regenerated through a well-balanced system which involves signaling of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. These systems are coupled, so that whenever bone is broken down, newly formed layers take its place – neither should happen without the other, in a healthy adult. In space, however, there is an increase in osteoclast activity due to microgravity. This is a problem, because osteoclasts break down the bones into minerals that are reabsorbed by the body.Osteoblasts are not consecutively active with the osteoclasts, causing the bone to be constantly diminished with no recovery. This increase in osteoclasts activity has been seen particularly in the pelvic region, because this is the region which carries the biggest load with gravity present. A study demonstrated that in healthy mice, osteoclasts appearance increased by 197%, accompanied by a down-regulation of osteoblasts and growth factors that are known to help with the formation of new bone, after only sixteen days of exposure to microgravity. Elevated blood calcium levels from the lost bone result in dangerous calcification of soft tissues and potential kidney stone formation It is still unknown whether bone recovers completely. Unlike people with osteoporosis, astronauts eventually regain their bone density.After a 3-4 month trip into space, it takes about 2–3 years to regain lost bone density.New techniques are being developed to help astronauts recover faster. Research on diet, exercise and medication may hold the potential to aid the process of growing new bone.

To prevent some of these adverse physiological effects, the ISS is equipped with two treadmills (including the COLBERT), and the aRED (advanced Resistive Exercise Device), which enable various weight-lifting exercises which add muscle but do nothing for bone density,and a stationary bicycle; each astronaut spends at least two hours per day exercising on the equipment.Astronauts use bungee cords to strap themselves to the treadmill.Astronauts subject to long periods of weightlessness wear pants with elastic bands attached between waistband and cuffs to compress the leg bones and reduce osteopenia.

Currently, NASA is using advanced computational tools to understand the how to best counteract the bone and muscle atrophy experienced by astronauts in microgravity environments for prolonged periods of time.The Human Research Program's Human Health Countermeasures Element chartered the Digital Astronaut Project to investigate targeted questions about exercise countermeasure regimes. NASA is focusing on integrating a model of the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) currently on board the International Space Station with OpenSim musculoskeletal models of humans exercising with the device. The goal of this work is to use inverse dynamics to estimate joint torques and muscle forces resulting from using the ARED, and thus more accurately prescribe exercise regimens for the astronauts. These joint torques and muscle forces could be used in conjunction with more fundamental computational simulations of bone remodeling and muscle adaptation in order to more completely model the end effects of such countermeasures, and determine whether a proposed exercise regime would be sufficient to sustain astronaut musculoskeletal health.

Fluid redistribution

The effects of microgravity on fluid distribution around the body (greatly exaggerated).

Astronaut Clayton Andersonobserves as a water bubble floats in front of him on the Discovery. Watercohesion plays a bigger role in microgravity than on Earth

The second effect of weightlessness takes place in human fluids. The body is made up of 60% water, much of it intra-vascular and inter-cellular. Within a few moments of entering a microgravity environment, fluid is immediately re-distributed to the upper body resulting in bulging neck veins, puffy face and sinus and nasal congestion which can last throughout the duration of the trip and is very much like the symptoms of the common cold. In space the autonomic reactions of the body to maintain blood pressure are not required and fluid is distributed more widely around the whole body. This results in a decrease in plasma(water in the blood stream) volume of around 20%. These fluid shifts initiate a cascade of adaptive systemic effects that can be dangerous upon return to earth. Orthostatic intolerance results in astronauts returning to Earth after extended space missions being unable to stand unassisted for more than 10 minutes at a time without fainting. This is due in part to changes in the autonomic regulation of blood pressure and the loss of plasma volume. Although this effect becomes worse the longer the time spent in space, as yet all individuals have returned to normal within at most a few weeks of landing.

In space, astronauts lose fluid volume—including up to 22% of their blood volume. Because it has less blood to pump, the heart willatrophy. A weakened heart results in low blood pressure and can produce a problem with “orthostatic tolerance,” or the body’s ability to send enough oxygen to the brain without the astronaut's fainting or becoming dizzy. "Under the effects of the earth's gravity, blood and other body fluids are pulled towards the lower body. When gravity is taken away or reduced during space exploration, the blood tends to collect in the upper body instead, resulting in facial edema and other unwelcome side effects. Upon return to earth, the blood begins to pool in the lower extremities again, resulting in orthostatic hypotension."

Disruption of vision

Main article: Visual impairment due to intracranial pressure

Because weightlessness increases the amount of fluid in the upper part of the body, astronauts experience increased intracranial pressure. This appears to increase pressure on the backs of the eyeballs, affecting their shape and slightly crushing the optic nerve.This effect was noticed in 2012 in a study using MRI scans of astronauts who had returned to Earth following at least one month in space.Such eyesight problems may be a major concern for future deep space flight missions, including a manned mission to the planetMars.

Disruption of taste

One effect of weightlessness on humans is that some astronauts report a change in their sense of taste when in space. Some astronauts find that their food is bland, others find that their favorite foods no longer taste as good (one who enjoyed coffee disliked the taste so much on a mission that he stopped drinking it after returning to Earth); some astronauts enjoy eating certain foods that they would not normally eat, and some experience no change whatsoever. Multiple tests have not identified the cause,and several theories have been suggested, including food degradation, and psychological changes such as boredom. Astronauts often choose strong-tasting food to combat the loss of taste.

Other physical effects

After two months, calluses on the bottoms of feet molt and fall off from lack of use, leaving soft new skin. Tops of feet become, by contrast, raw and painfully sensitive. Tears cannot be shed while crying, as they stick together into a ball.In microgravity odors quickly permeate the environment, and NASA found in a test that the smell of cream sherrytriggered the gag reflex.Various other physical discomforts such as back and abdominal pain are common because of the readjustment to gravity, where in space there was no gravity and these muscles could freely stretch.These may be part of the asthenization syndrome reported by cosmonauts living in space over an extended period of time, but regarded as anecdotal by astronauts. Fatigue, listlessness, and psychosomatic worries are also part of the syndrome. The data is inconclusive; however the syndrome does appear to exist as a manifestation of all the internal and external stress crews in space must face.

Psychological effects of spaceflight

See also: Psychological and sociological effects of spaceflight

Studies of Russian cosmonauts, such as those on Mir, provide data on the long-term effects of space on the human body.

The psychological effects of living in space have not been clearly analyzed but analogies on Earth do exist, such as Arctic research stations and submarines. The enormous stress on the crew, coupled with the body adapting to other environmental changes, can result in anxiety, insomnia and depression. According to current data however, astronauts and cosmonauts seem extremely resilient to psychological stresses.

There has been considerable evidence that psychosocial stressors are among the most important impediments to optimal crew morale and performance.Cosmonaut Valery Ryumin, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, quotes this passage from The Handbook of Hymen by O. Henry in his autobiographical book about the Salyut 6 mission: “If you want to instigate the art of manslaughter just shut two men up in a eighteen by twenty-foot cabin for a month. Human nature won't stand it.”

NASA's interest in psychological stress caused by space travel, initially studied when their manned missions began, was rekindled when astronauts joined cosmonauts on the Russian space station Mir. Common sources of stress in early American missions included maintaining high performance while under public scrutiny, as well as isolation from peers and family. On the ISS, the latter is still often a cause of stress, such as when NASA Astronaut Daniel Tani's mother died in a car accident, and when Michael Fincke was forced to miss the birth of his second child.

The amount and quality of sleep experienced in space is poor due to highly variable light and dark cycles on flight decks and poor illumination during daytime hours in the space craft. Even the habit of looking out of the window before retiring can send the wrong messages to the brain, resulting in poor sleep patterns. These disturbances in circadian rhythm have profound effects on the neurobehavioural responses of crew and aggravate the psychological stresses they already experience (see Fatigue and sleep loss during spaceflight for more information). Sleep is disturbed on the ISS regularly due to mission demands, such as the scheduling of incoming or departing space vehicles. Sound levels in the station are unavoidably high because the atmosphere is unable to thermosyphon; fans are required at all times to allow processing of the atmosphere, which would stagnate in the freefall (zero-g) environment. Fifty percent of space shuttle astronauts take sleeping pills and still get 2 hours less sleep each night in space than they do on the ground.. NASA is researching two areas which may provide the keys to a better night’s sleep, as improved sleep decreases fatigue and increases daytime productivity. A variety of methods for combating this phenomenon are constantly under discussion.

A study of the longest spaceflight concluded that the first three weeks represent a critical period where attention is adversely affected because of the demand to adjust to the extreme change of environment. While Skylab's three crews remained in space 1, 2, and 3 months respectively, long-term crews on Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and the ISS remain about 5–6 months, while MIR expeditions often lasted longer. The ISS working environment includes further stress caused by living and working in cramped conditions with people from very different cultures who speak different languages. First generation space stations had crews who spoke a single language, while 2nd and 3rd generation stations have a crew from many cultures who speak many languages. The ISS is unique because visitors are not classed automatically into 'host' or 'guest' categories as with previous stations and spacecraft, and may not suffer from feelings of isolation in the same way. Crew members with a military pilot background and those with an academic science background or teachers and politicians may have problems understanding each other’s jargon and worldview.

Astronauts may not be able to quickly return to Earth or receive medical supplies, equipment or personnel if a medical emergency occurs. The astronauts may have to rely for long periods on their limited existing resources and medical advice from the ground.

On December 31, 2012, a NASA-supported study reported that manned spaceflight may harm the brain of astronauts and accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease.