Why do astronauts become puffy after a business trip to space? The reason is distressing

Mondo Science Updated on 2024-02-25

Astronauts, who have attracted attention for their work in the mysterious outer space.

In the third season of the ** TV program "Reader", three astronauts in China's space station read aloud to the audience and friends for the first time in the space station.

However, people found that the astronauts seemed to be much plump, could it be that the living conditions in the space station were too good, so that the astronauts were "fat"?

In the third season of "Reader", astronauts Wang Yaping, Ye Guangfu, and Zhai Zhigang performed a passionate recitation, and Zhai Zhigang also performed a "space backflip" at the end of the recitation.

Attentive viewers soon discovered that the three astronauts who had just entered the space station had changed their appearance on land a month ago, and their originally angular cheeks had become plump and round, and Zhai Zhigang could even see the "double chin".

Some people say that the astronauts do not have too much space to move in the space station, and the food provided in the space station is nutritious, these astronauts are "fat";

Some people also compared Nie Haisheng, Tang Hongbo and other astronauts who worked in Tiangong-1 for comparison, and the "round" face also seemed to confirm the speculation of netizens.

It is true that compared with when Shenzhou 5 entered space, Yang Liwei could only eat convenient ready-to-eat food called "one bite of food", and there are dozens of food choices in today's space food.

Not only has my country's traditional rice, but also prepared dozens of Chinese stir-fried dishes according to the astronauts' personal tastes and differences in origin, which can be said to solve the problem of "difficult to reconcile", for example, Jing Haipeng is from Shanxi, and there is "old vinegar" specially added for him in his recipes.

When he arrived in the thirteenth heaven of Shenzhou, Ye Guangfu had an experience of spending the New Year in space, and at that time, he also performed a "bite by bite" dumpling stunt for people by recording **, and also said that he could eat dumplings with three kinds of fillings, which really made the onlookers on the ground envious.

After arriving in Shenzhou 15, astronauts will not only be able to grow and cook their own food in space, but will also be able to "order takeout" from the ground, truly realizing "heaven and earth eat together".

Today's astronauts have been able to eat canned food, dehydrated food, and more than 120 kinds of rich foods for astronauts to choose from, including vegetarian meat, salty and sweet.

However, many people don't know that astronauts' food is not simply to supplement nutrition and adjust taste, but also has a lot of scientific and technological content in it, and they are not simply "fat".

Because astronauts will lose their sense of taste and appetite after they arrive in space, astronauts in space are often more interested in salty and spicy dishes such as mustard and spicy, but are not interested in meat and egg foods that are common in people's lives.

Therefore, even if they can take in the nutrients that their bodies need to maintain the basic nutrients, they will rarely "eat fat" in a month, as people say.

So why do these astronauts look "fat" on their faces and limbs?

From the film and television materials and the ** of the space station, you can often see the astronauts walking in the air in a "jumping" way, and sometimes they can easily complete a "somersault".This is mainly because they are all in a state of weightlessness.

As we all know, whether people walk or run and jump on the ground, they will be affected by the earth's gravity, and the weight that people call is also based on the premise that gravity is relatively stable.

However, when people reach space dozens of kilometers away from the earth, they will get rid of a certain gravitational pull of the earth, and even the "weight" of people will be reduced, and there will be a state of weightlessness that people see.

To be precise, astronauts in space are not free from gravity, but as the vehicle rotates around the earth at high speed, part of the weight is ignored by weightlessness away from gravity.

Because people's bodies have adapted to living in ordinary gravity, there will be some changes in the body when astronauts enjoy this hard-to-try experience on the ground in space.

First of all, because the muscles and nervous tissues have adapted to life under normal gravity, they will have certain disorders in a state of weightlessness, resulting in neurological effects on balance and decreased muscle response ability.

In astronaut Chen Dong's diary, there is a record that "the body is uncontrollable, and the nerve reflexes are a few beats slower".

Secondly, there are changes in the circulatory system.

Because astronauts need to get rid of the earth's gravity from the ground to the universe, they need to use the reaction force to increase the corresponding thrust, which is simply to add more thrust than the earth's gravity to the aircraft.

At this time, the human body in the aircraft will bear more gravitational load, in order to prevent injury to the human body, so astronauts and fighter pilots can often see the special load-resistant clothing.

Although astronauts can take off their anti-load suits after going to space, the internal organs of the body must continue to adapt to the state of weightlessness, so the blood output and blood volume of the heart will change.

Some astronauts will experience nausea and drowsiness due to blood pressure problems in the early stages of weightlessness, which is also a physiological reaction caused by the pressure of body fluids.

This is the fundamental reason why astronauts look "fat". To explain it in simple terms, it is the first surface of the human head and hands to produce "edema" uncontrollably.

At the same time, because the morphological changes in **, muscles and nerves have occurred, there will also be a magical "facelift" effect on the face of the astronaut.

Therefore, on the surface, it seems that astronauts are "fat", but in fact, their bodies are in an abnormal state in space.

The current record holder for the longest continuous service on the ISS is Soviet cosmonaut Polyakov with 437 days, and the longest single record in the United States is Kelly with 340 days.

According to the relevant data after the astronauts landed, the physical reaction faced by the astronauts in space is not just a simple situation of "getting fat" caused by gravity.

The U.S. side compared Kelly with his twin brother after landing and found that Kelly's weight loss, carotid artery dilation, edema, and DNA and other cells have changed greatly from the surface of lifeFinally, it was concluded that six factors, including weightlessness, would directly affect the physical health of astronauts.

In the human body, there is a type of mitochondria called the "cell engine", which mainly produces chemical energy in the body's cells to power the cells and the human body.

After being irradiated by cosmic rays, the imbalance of mitochondria and oxidative stress will cause irreversible changes in the astronaut's body, and some studies say that it will be more likely to cause cellular changes and even cancer, thus threatening the life of astronauts.

In addition, astronauts who have been irradiated by cosmic rays will also show DNA damage. This phenomenon usually occurs only in outer space, and when astronauts return to the Earth's surface, the telomeres elongated by the rays gradually recover.

However, this seemingly miraculous situation is not just a "performance" of a "telescopic show", it is also the same as triggering lesions and even genetic mutations in the human body.

In addition to cosmic rays, weightlessness and confined spaces can also cause physical and psychological damage to astronauts.

The functions of the human body are always in a state of movement, micro-injury, repair and regeneration, and if the muscles and nerves are not used for a long time due to the influence of external forces, they will atrophy and degenerate, and this phenomenon will also occur in the weightless state of space.

Through the observation of astronauts' bodies, it was found that the average monthly bone loss caused by weightlessness was between 1% and 2%.

Although astronauts can be supplemented with vitamins, it is difficult to recover effectively, and it is usually only after the recovery period of more than 2 years after reaching the surface that they can fully return to normal.

At the same time, because of the long-term weightlessness, the long muscles of the human body are in a relaxed state for a long time, which makes astronauts have to often carry out targeted muscle training, so there will be special exercise equipment in the space-tight space station to prevent rapid and slow muscle recession.

Although astronauts will receive systematic ** and recuperation after returning to the ground, and a very small number of people can return to normal within a few months, there are still people who will be affected by radiation radiation, functional degradation and even mutated bacterial infections and become ill for life.

It can be seen from this that the work of astronauts on the space station at an altitude of hundreds of kilometers is not as glamorous as people imagine that they can "eat fat", but is full of danger to life.

Today, China's aerospace industry has achieved rapid development, and it is no longer China, which is blocked by other people's technology, but has become an advanced country that other countries have taken the initiative to ask to join our space station, which is inseparable from the results of the continuous efforts of several generations of astronauts.

Whenever we look up at the starry sky, among the twinkling stars in the sky, there will definitely be more bright stars belonging to our country.

Resources.

1] "What is the impact of working and living in space for a long time on the body of astronauts" Tan Jingjing.

2] "90 Days of Space Business Trip to See the Magical Changes of the Astronaut's Body" Qiu Jia.

3] "29 Studies Reveal the Impact of Space Exploration on the Human Body" Yun Lin.

4] "Reader" ** TV station.

Related Pages