Deep Space Radiation Caused Heart Problems For Apollo Astronauts

[Eugene]

Source: NBC News

JUL 28 2016, 2:23 PM ET

Deep Space Radiation Caused Heart Problems For Apollo Astronauts

by SAMUEL SARMIENTO, M.D.

The Apollo astronauts — the first men to land on the moon — took a giant leap for mankind. But the deep space radiation that dosed the men who left the Earth's orbit may have damaged their hearts, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science.

The number of deaths due to heart disease among the Apollo lunar astronauts is almost five times greater than that in non-flight astronauts, or astronauts who never flew missions in space, researchers from Florida State University found. Compared to astronauts who flew only in low Earth orbit (LEO), the heart risk among Apollo astronauts is four times higher. There were no differences between LEO and non-flight astronauts.

Apollo was a NASA program that made 11 total space flights between 1968 and 1972, six of them landed on the moon. Twelve men, including Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, walked on the lunar surface.

Apollo astronauts are different

Unlike astronauts in other space missions, Apollo lunar astronauts are the only humans to have traveled outside of the Earth's geomagnetic field and into deep-space. They went outside of the earth's protective "magnetosphere" — the region surrounding the planet where its own magnetic field dominates. The magnetosphere causes galactic cosmic rays and solar particles to detour around the Earth.

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Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/deep-space-radiation-caused-heart-problems-apollo-astronauts-n618116

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Related: Apollo Lunar Astronauts Show Higher Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: Possible Deep Space Radiation Effects on the Vascular Endothelium (Scientific Reports)

[applegrove]

1. Good. Now that we know we aren't going anywhere else, we can concentrate

on fixing the environment.

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. Now we can work on Sciencing the shit out of this and engineering a solution for astronauts.

[cstanleytech]

5. Loved that movie and the extended version was even better. nt

[Agnosticsherbet]

6. Me too. It is the best real Science Fiction movie in decades.

[CrispyQ]

8. And Commander Lewis doesn't have awful taste in music.

Every time I watch it I get those disco tunes stuck in my head for weeks!

[tanyev]

3. It sounds plausible, but is it really possible to extrapolate from such a small sample group?

[Red Mountain]

4. We need to go

What we have learned getting there in the past has benefited us greatly.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Looking at the 24 astronauts who went to the Moon (around it or landing on it)

I can only find 2 that died of cardiovascular disease between 55 and 64 - Ronald Evans and James Irwin. In addition, Neil Armstrong died of complications following heart surgery, but at age 82.

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_former.html

4 other Moon astronauts have died. They give a proportional mortality rate of 0.43, which would appear to be that '3 out of 7' for all ages.

So what they are claiming is notable is that out of 24 individuals, born around 1930 on average, 3 have died of cardiovascular disease. That seems, to me, unremarkable. That 2 died before 65 might have been more notable, but it's a very small sample to draw any conclusion from.