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Time-in-Space Record Broken
NoFrance writes "Russian cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev has taken the record for most time spent in space away from fellow Russian Sergei Avdeyev. At 748 days in space, Krikalev has an impressive list of accomplishments to his name, including : back-to-back 6 month tours on mir, he flew on the first joint US-Russian space shuttle mission, and a member of the first crew to live on ISS. He is currently commander of the ISS in a six-month stint that began on 14 April. Most impressive is his ability to deal with the physical hardships in space. In space most people lose around 1.5% of their bone mass per month, even with a disciplined exercise regime. And growing the bone mass lost from a 6 month stint back, can take a long time."
Then you would understand just how short a time 748 days in space truly is.
A simple Troll, born of Rock and Fire, leaving in the basement of my parents volcano and typing on an asbestos keyboard.
"Sergei Krikalev has taken the record for most time spent in space away from fellow Russian Sergei Avdeyev"
Man- that Sergei Avdeyev must be pretty annoying if Sergei K has to go to space to stay away from him.
From TFA: Most impressive is his ability to deal with the physical hardships in space.
Nah...All you need is a playboy subscription.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_records#T otal_time_in_space_-_top_50_space_travelers
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Centripetal-force-generated artificial gravity systems, like those envitioned by Arthur C. Clarke shown in the film 2001, have been studied by NASA and the Air Force for decades. Basically, it would require a structure of a few hundred meters radius rotating at a few rpm. The scale of such a habitat would be enormous, and the cost associated has not been shown to be warranted as of yet. However, the commercialization of space will probably bring about such an innovation out of necessity (for comfort).
Links here, here, and here.
Neither. There's a click-through EULA in the shuttle's boot sequence.
what else makes the bone mass come back?
I can answer that. Although this comes as a surprise to many people, bone is actually living tissue. It undergoes two continuous processes. On the one hand bone is continually reabsorbed by the body, and the minerals (mostly calcium and phosphate) end up in the blood stream. And on the other hand, new bone is always created as well. Those self same minerals are taken out of the bloodstream and deposited to make new bone.
Now the problem occurs because of the following. One of the main factors that determines where and how new bone is deposited is the constant traction against the bone by tendons. These tendons are attached on one end to the bones, and on the other to muscles. So muscle activity, which puts tension on the tendons, actually favors bone formation along the stress lines in the bone.
The only problem is that there is just so much muscle activity that you can get from an excercise program. This pales in comparison to the CONSTANT activity that your support, or anti-gravity muscles are doing all the time, 24hrs a day, in an involountary fashion. Now in space, the effects of gravity are gone. So the anti-gravity muscles stop working. So you end up losing the most part of the stimulus that promotes new bone formation. Hence, you get bone loss. The rate of reabsorbtion is now greater than the rate of formation.
How does it come back? Only through time, excercise, GRAVITY, calcium supplements, vitamin D, and in extreme cases, PTH (parathyroid hormone). Although the physiological function of this hormone is to promote bone reabsorbtion (ie loss), no one is sure why it actually does the opposite when used as a drug. Remineralizing a bone is a slow process however. This astronaut will NEVER get back to where he was when he left Earth.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
As I've been saying for years - recruit submariners, not pilots. They're already partially screened for resistance to this syndrome. They are already used to living in confined spaces, isolation, etc.. etc..
Or they can hire nerds, who already know a bunch about space anyway, and also fit that criteria.
You may think I'm joking, but I haven't actually left this room all summer, except once or twice. I've been able to handle 3 months without any problems, I'm sure I can handle a year or two even.
This is, of course, given I have an internet connection.