Villages PL
12-20-2014, 02:16 PM
Two astronauts, one American and one Russian, will orbit the Earth for one year in the space station. That will be a record. The article I read a few days ago said they want to know more about the long term effects of weightlessness in preparation for longer space flights, like perhaps going to mars.
It's interesting that they say they need to know more, when they already know plenty about something that's detrimental to one's physical well being. Most muscle and bone loss can be regained by exercising, except bone loss in the hip. There's no reliable exercise for rebuilding one's hip bone. And, incidentally, when you rebuild bone through exercise, there's no way of knowing if it will have the same strength as before. There's a test for bone density but not for bone strength. Low bone density can be stronger than high bone density and visa versa.
I think more people should know about this so they will have a better appreciation of what these men are sacrificing. They are offering themselves as human guinea pigs for science, so there may eventually be a trip to mars. Is this a worthy goal, just to say that we did it?
It's interesting that they say they need to know more, when they already know plenty about something that's detrimental to one's physical well being. Most muscle and bone loss can be regained by exercising, except bone loss in the hip. There's no reliable exercise for rebuilding one's hip bone. And, incidentally, when you rebuild bone through exercise, there's no way of knowing if it will have the same strength as before. There's a test for bone density but not for bone strength. Low bone density can be stronger than high bone density and visa versa.
I think more people should know about this so they will have a better appreciation of what these men are sacrificing. They are offering themselves as human guinea pigs for science, so there may eventually be a trip to mars. Is this a worthy goal, just to say that we did it?