Scientists monitored astronauts' blood for changes for a period of 20 years. Here's what they found out about the impact of short space flights on the crew's genetic health.
Astronaut in space. Image credit: NASA, Public Domain
In reality, space flight still remains very distant from our romantic vision of space travel. Even if we could get there, we should consider the fact that every flight takes a serious toll on the flyer's health.
There are many health-related things that need to be checked for any astronaut. With every day spent in orbit, people lose their bone density, sharpness of their vision, and muscle mass, among other things. They also experience accelerated aging. That is why health professionals are regularly checking astronauts for cancer risk, comparing the key indicators of their blood against the blood samples stored since the beginning of their careers.
NASA has examined DNA mutations in blood-forming stem cells for all fourteen astronauts who participated in the study, all fourteen from NASA's space shuttle program. The conclusion of this study: all astronauts had DNA mutations in blood-forming stem cells. Thee results of the study were published in Nature Communications Biology.
The researchers say that these mutations did not pose any danger to the astronauts' health. But the team admitted that the overall number of mutations was unusually high considering the astronauts' age.