space travel (Page 4)

Long-duration spaceflight may have a long-term negative impact on bone health. Exposure to weightlessness during spaceflight results in rapid bone loss. Researchers recently set out to determine the impact of long-duration space missions on long-term bone health by assessing the bone mineral density of astronauts. The researchers studied 28 US crew members (24 men and four women with a pre-flight age range of 36 to 53 years) whose missions in space ranged from 95 to 215 days. All 28 crew members had their bone density measured both before and soon after their spaceflight, while 24 had this measured again between six and 18 months following their return from space.read more