"It is now a recognized occupational hazard of spaceflight," Dr. Michael R. Barratt, a NASA astronaut who is also a physician, told the New York Times. "We uncovered something that has been right under our noses forever."
By under their noses, Barratt actually meant over their noses. Barrat and fellow astronaut and doctor Robert B. Thirsk returned from a trip to space in 2009 with a far sightedness they previously didn't have. Being away from gravity squeezed their eye balls inward and also left physical signs on their retinas and optic nerves, according to the Times.
Before the effects of the 2009 trip were discovered, scientists knew of the more classic physical consequences of spending time in space, such as reduced bone mass, leg atrophy, and increased pressure inside the skull, most of which could be mediated by targeted exercise programs.
"Your head actually feels bloated," said Mark E. Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut of four space shuttle missions. "It kind of feels like you would feel if you hung upside down for a couple of minutes."
Those symptoms led some to consider artificial gravity rooms, created by spinning the spacecraft at great speeds, but, until now, the potential complications weren't considered equal to the benefits.
But the worst consequence of space travel is radiation, which, at the moment, can't be controlled, in actuality or in theory, according to the Times. Without the benefit of earth's atmosphere, astronaut's face tenfold the exposure. As per NASA's rules, astronauts are not to accrue enough radiation to increase their chances of cancer by three percent. Except there hasn't been enough research to prove exactly how much space time leads to that three percent.
"What are the long-term implications?" Barrat said. "That's the $64 million question."
Of course, the answer is worth significantly more. If NASA or other space agencies wish to send an astronaut to Marsv-- a trip that would take at least over two years -- they'll want to make sure they don't return poisoned.
"My goal," said John B. Charles, chief of the international science office of NASA's human research program, "is to see a program that doesn't deliver an astronaut limping to Mars."
