... When pediatric cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux and a trio of crewmates spent three days in space in 2021 as part of SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission, they made history not only as the first all-civilian team to orbit Earth. They also provided the most in-depth data on record regarding the effects of space travel on the human body.
New research based on this data details changes in the brain, heart, muscles, kidneys and skin, immune regulation and stress levels and a breakdown in the activity of subcellular structures called mitochondria amid the microgravity environment, increased radiation and other factors in space.
More than 95% of the biomarkers tracked in the research returned to preflight levels in the months after the crew returned to Earth, though some abnormalities including in the mitochondria persisted, the researchers said. But the data indicated that spaceflights -- at least short-duration ones -- do not pose significant health risks, they concluded.
"We did not see anything that was worrisome, thankfully," said Chris Mason, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York who helped lead the research, with studies published on Tuesday in Nature, opens new tab and other journals. "This bodes well for other groups of civilians planning to live and work in space."
"We did see some evidence of brain-associated proteins in the blood after the mission, which we had also seen once before in the Twins Study (a 2019 study based on retired NASA astronauts and twins Scott and Mark Kelly), and we think is evidence of brain stress during the mission," Mason added.
Mason said this might be explained by findings in experimental mice flown to space that experienced disruptions in the blood-brain barrier, a layer of cells protecting the brain. Cognitive function in the Inspiration4 crew, as measured by the University of Pennsylvania's Mathias Basner, was not affected, Mason noted. ...
