MAN IN SPACE

The astronauts on board the Shuttle and the space station MIR, are in a situation of weight absence due to the fact that the gravitational force of the Earth is exactly balanced by the centrifugal force of the orbiting spacecraft.
The human body adapts itself to the new situation by means of modifications of the cardiac-circulatory, muscular and scheletal systems especially. The absence of gravity infact induces the heart to pump a lot more blood to the head than to the limbs, and the features of the face swell up. The muscles become thinner because they are not strained, and the bones tend to decalcify.
The central nervous system suffers from this situation as well, since it has to elaborate a lot of new sensations, unknown in the common terrestrial life. The crew of the space station MIR follow a precise programme of physical exercise for a few hours every day, with medical check ups.
Nevertheless, when the astronauts return from a long experience in space, their bodies are very worn out, and they need an adequate recovery period. Since 1995 the rehabilitation of the Russian cosmonauts is carried out at the Terme Euganee (thermal spa), under the responsability of the University of Padua, on the grounds of an agreement with the Moscow Institute for Biomedical Problems and the Star City "Y.A. Gagarin" Cosmonaut Training Center. (University of Padua, University of Udine)

The 95 EUROMIR mission. For the last 10 years the Russian space station MIR has been orbiting around the Earth. During this period many crew members alternated, and they spent on board the station period that varied from a few weeks to many months. The record holder is Valery Polyakov with 438 days! ESA astronauts participated in some missions too.
 

The Russian space station MIR photographed in February 1994 on its orbit around the Earth, at an altitude of 400 km. (JPEG, 157 K) (ESA-RKA)

 

Official logo of the EUROMIR 95 mission. The launch took place in the Baikonoor space polygon (Kazachstan) on the September 2nd 1995. Thomas Reiter, astronaut of the European Space Agency, participated to this mission, and he spent 180 days on board.(JPEG, 417 K) (ESA-RKA)

 

ESA astronaut Ulf Merbold (left), photographed while the Russian cosmonaut Dr. Valery Polyakov takes a sample of his blood for one of the numerous biomedical experiments carried out on board the MIR.(JPEG, 195 K) (ESA-RKA)

 

The astronauts, just like any other object, float inside the MIR, in the absence of weight. There is no privacy, and the arrival of a woman (Elena Kondakova) imposed a different? behaving protocol. Whoever wakes up first takes care of food preparation. And nobody has to do the washing: the clothes are disposable.(JPEG, 220 K) (ESA-RKA)

 

Official logo of the LMS 96 mission of the Shuttle Columbia. A Canadian and a French astronauts also participated to the mission, which lasted 18 days. 41 biomedical experiments were carried out in order to verify the effects of the permanence in space on muscular funcionality. (JPEG, 257 K) (ESA-NASA)

The ARIANE vector. The new European vector Ariane 5 is composed of a main stage at a height of 45 metres, with two powerful 30 m boosters. Ariane 5 can carry any kind of satellites, but also elements of space stations. (ESA)