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posted by martyb on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-stay-horizontal-and-wear-tight-spandex dept.

New research brings more bad news to astronauts thinking about long-haul space flights as spinal muscles shrink after months in space, scientists have found.

Floating around in space in an environment with little or no gravity is not good for the human body. Along with decreased bone density, nausea, a puffy face, possible cognitive deterioration, an astronaut's back starts to weaken too.

The research is part of NASA's wider project to study the physical effects space has on the body to prepare for long-haul flights to Mars.

Results from the NASA-funded research have been published in Spine, and show spinal damage persists months after the astronauts return to Earth.

Six NASA crew members were subjected to MRI scans before and after spending four to seven months floating around the microgravity conditions of the International Space Station.

NASA should send the astronauts into space with one of those inversion tables so they can hang upside down.


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  • (Score: 2) by black6host on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:30PM

    by black6host (3827) on Thursday October 27 2016, @09:30PM (#419578) Journal

    Did I miss a whoosh? Damn! How you gonna have an upside down when there's no right side up? :) I better get back to honing my mental skills. Must have missed a whoosh... hehe

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 28 2016, @12:58AM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday October 28 2016, @12:58AM (#419669) Journal

    That's the genius of it. When you use an inversion table in space you're hanging upside down no matter which way you're pointed. Couldn't be easier to use.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.