Sunita Williams In Space: Does Extended Stay In Space Impact Human Body? Know About NASA Study

Sunita Williams In Space: NASA's CIPHER study investigates the effects of prolonged space travel on the human body, focusing on bone density, cardiovascular health, and vision.

NASA astronauts Sunita L Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore have been in space for more than a month now, though their initial plan was to spend around eight days at the International Space Center (ISS). They reached the ISS on June 6, a day after being launched aboard Starliner from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, due to several issues with the propulsion system of the Starliner spacecraft, they had to extend their mission for an indefinite period. 

Williams and Wilmore, both former US Navy test pilots, are optimistic that Starliner will bring them back to Earth. In their first message from the ISS, Sunita Williams said on July 10: “I have a real good feeling in my heart that this spacecraft will bring us home, no problem.” Wilmore added: “Failure is not an option.”

The extended stay has given the two NASA astronauts time to do more “ISS duties” and space experiments. 

While Williams’ and Wilmore’s extra time onboard the ISS is an anomaly because this was not part of their initial schedule, an extended stay in space is not uncommon for astronauts. However, there are certain health issues that the astrocauts may confront during and after a long stay in a low-gravity environment.   

NASA had earlier said they were studying as part of the CIPHER (Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research) experiments how a human body reacts after staying in space for a long time. For this, the scientists were to study 30-odd astronauts divided over three categories of different mission length — less than three and a half months, between three and a half and 3.5 and eight months, and more than eight months.

Does Extended Stay In Space Change The Human Body?

According to NASA, astronauts often experience dizziness or disorientation on arrival at the ISS, and also on return to Earth. There are several other health conditions too that they may face. 

A January 2023 article on the NASA website listed the kind of problems a long stay in a zero-gravity area may cause to different parts of the body, as it talked about the CIPHER study being undertaken to examine the issues further.  

Bone And Joints: Quoting studies, the NASA article noted that a human body sees faster loss of bone density and muscle quality in space than on Earth. “Calcium lost from bone ends up in their blood and urine. This loss of bone density may affect how skeletal systems support muscles and organs in space and soon after landing back on Earth.”

Cardiovascular: NASA also noted that long-duration space stay could lead to “stiffer arteries and increase the risk of heart disease”. 

Vision: A long spaceflight can also alter the structure of the eyes and brain, and their function “because low-gravity conditions shift the body’s fluids toward the head”. This may result in astronauts processing visual information in a different way while on long missions, and that could in turn affect their performance.

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NASA’s CIPHER Study

Looking to find out how the changes in a human body play out during and after such extended missions in space, NASA and other international partner agencies joined hands to sponsor a specific study to conduct certain experiments, called them the Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research, or CIPHER.

“CIPHER is the first study to integrate multiple physiological and psychological measures, giving us a chance to assess the whole human response to time spent in space,” the NASA website says, quoting CIPHER project scientist Cherie Oubre. 

Through the project, the scientists hoped to “learn more about how the various systems of the body, such as the heart, muscles, bones, and eyes, adapt to long-term spaceflight” as more and more astronauts are heading to space. 

As part of the experiments, the 30 astronauts selected for the study were to complete various cognitive tests, undergo CT, MRI, and ultrasound imaging of the heart, and organs and muscles, and blood vessels, take periodic blood pressure measurements, and perform vision tests, among other things.

Scientists, meanwhile, were to examine how brain activity differs before and after missions, whether low gravity has an impact on the organs, muscles, and vessels near the heart, and evaluate changes in the eyes for each mission duration, among other things.

The scientists also wanted to understand if exercise is effective in maintaining the health of astronauts in space.

The experiments are ongoing. 

In a February 2024 article, NASA said all data collected from the 14-odd experiments done on the astronauts will be integrated into one set for the scientists to gain a “comprehensive view of how increasingly longer missions affect the entire human body”.