The International Space Station (humanity's most expensive construction project to date) does not get much attention here. They just keep circling, and the nerdly go outside at dawn or dusk to see occasional overpasses. Now another crew has launched Soyuz With One-Year Crew Approaching Station | Space Station with two fellows planning to stay for a year. This will not be the record longest space camping. But the longest recently, and with presumably new technology to monitor their physical degradation. For degrade they will. Bones and muscles, and eyeballs zapped by ionizing radiation. It's pretty amazing stuff. Though not necessarily on par with our earthly concerns as chronicled here at Fred's
I think the wrong species is in orbit. I would prefer to see a colony of mice for generational studies. The reason is to see if they can adapt and what changes happen to the expression of their genes. With relatively short life-times, we could see generational changes. But in space, this is what excites my fancy: I really like sending robots to explore our solar system ... Sun through the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. Bob Wilson
Mrs Cabbie and I were talking about the proposed human Mars landings, and were speculating whether someone who had landed on Mars and lived there for a couple years could ever return to the Earth. Surely they'd have got used to the lower Martian gravity? Would changes have occured in those few years that would make their body unable to return?
Weightlessness would have been solved if we had built this when we were supposed to. The inhabitants could then jog while in orbit.
I think the most interesting part of the year-long mission is the third member of the project. Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly are identical twins and both astronauts. There is no better way to have a control sample on the ground to compare to for changes! Bill the Engineer
I'm looking forward to our first clear view of Pluto in July - New Horizons will change everything we know about that world and maybe ours. Then it goes to a 37 or 47 mile diameter body if NASA gets funding. After Pluto, Where Will NASA's New Horizons Go?
If someone started a thread of doctors attempting to find a way for coach potatoes to eat junk food and expect to live to 90, they would be flamed and laughed at. I think we are slowly going to come to the conclusion extended periods of weightless is just something humans can't ever do well and bite the bullet to design space stations with artificial gravity and shielding.
