Space can be an unfriendly place for the human body, with microgravity conditions and other factors tampering with our physiology, from head to toe — head, of course, being a primary concern.
A new NASA-funded study provides a deeper understanding of the issue. Researchers said on Thursday that astronauts who traveled on the International Space Station or NASA space shuttles on missions lasting at least six months experienced significant expansion of the cerebral ventricles — spaces in the middle of the brain containing cerebrospinal fluid.
"If the ventricles don't have sufficient time to recover between back-to-back missions, this may impact the brain's ability to cope with fluid shifts in microgravity.
The study involved 23 male and seven female astronauts — average age around 47 — from the U.S., Canadian and European space agencies. Eight traveled on space shuttle missions of about two weeks. Eighteen were on ISS missions of about six months and four on ISS missions of about a year. Hurricane Genevieve is seen from the International Space Station orbiting Earth in an image taken by NASA astronaut Christopher J. Cassidy Aug. 19, 2020.
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