12. What are the various health risks, side effects and concerns when traveling to space? (A K2S Question)
From The Space Library
The health risks fall into four groups: 1) medical problems that normally occur on Earth could occur in space, like appendicitis; 2) accidents could cause trauma—for example, although a person could not "fall" in space, they could get hurt by being hit by an object floating through the spacecraft, like a book or a piece of equipment; 3) changes in human physiology due to living in micro-gravity could cause problems while living in space—for example, during the first three days of spaceflight the inner ear, which controls our balance, no longer works, and so the brain is confused, with the result that two-thirds of people will experience motion sickness; and 4) changes in human physiology due to living in micro-gravity could cause problems when a person returns to Earth. An example of this last health risk is that there is a fluid shift from the lower half of the body to the upper half of the body—an astronaut appears to have a puffy, swollen face. What is really happening is that the body does not need as much blood in space as on the Earth because gravity is not pulling the blood down to our feet. Some of the blood water is what makes the face swell; however, most of the extra blood not needed is eliminated from the body. When a person comes back to Earth, there may not be enough blood in the blood vessels and some people will faint on standing up, because they are not getting enough blood to supply oxygen and nutrients to the brain.
Answer provided by Col. USAF Dr. Richard S. Williams
Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer
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