This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 26-January-2015
Subject: Astrophysical Fitness
Description: January's presentation was an exploration of the effects of prolonged space travel on the human body. Some effects can be controlled - analgesics help with general body pain, exercise prevents muscle atrophy, sleep medications help with disrupted sleep cycles, etc. - but some are not so easily controlled at all, and very little research has been done with psychological effects - loneliness, isolation, etc. The presentation touched on an upcoming ISS mission in which astronaut Steve Kelly (brother of Mark Kelly, who was in the news recently when his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona congresswoman, was shot by a would-be assassin) will spend over a year traveling to and from the ISS plus time spent onboard the station. His physical and psychological effects will be closely monitored and studied.
Download a zipped PDF file of this presentation (83KB).
