Astronauts' 9-month stay in space could help with healthier mission to Mars

Amina Zafar · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

As astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams get their onshore legs backmost connected Earth, the effects of being stranded successful space for 9 months — and their recovery — will springiness scientists a accidental to improve preparations for eventual, and adjacent longer, abstraction flights, accidental experts.

NASA aims to nonstop humans to Mars arsenic aboriginal arsenic the 2030s; flights which, determination and back, could instrumentality 21 months. 

"The utmost situation of space, the radiation, the deficiency of gravity, adjacent conscionable those confined spaces, it tin truly instrumentality a toll connected our health," said Dr. Farhan Asrar, subordinate dean of objective module relations astatine Toronto Metropolitan University's aesculapian school, who researches abstraction medicine.

"Literally I would accidental beauteous overmuch from caput to toed it tin origin issues."

Without gravity, bodily fluids displacement upward, starring to facial swelling and accrued unit successful the skull, which tin impact vision.

On Earth, the propulsion of gravity connected bones and muscles helps forestall bony and musculus loss. To effort to counteract that, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) exercise for an mean of two hours a day.

WATCH | Canadian prepares to caput to the moon:

What's more, the cardiovascular strategy changes, which tin pb to trouble regulating humor unit upon instrumentality to Earth. Asrar pointed to 1 Canadian survey that suggested carotid arteries of astronauts tin property the equivalent of 20 years from conscionable six months successful space.

Heart and lungs, the equilibrium mechanics successful our ears, and our immune systems are besides highly impacted by abstraction flight, says Robert Thirsk, a erstwhile astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency and a retired aesculapian doctor,

Thirsk trained astatine NASA with Williams and says he's looking guardant to speaking with her astir however to amended grooming for Mars missions.

He says astronauts volition request to beryllium much autonomous connected Mars, fixed that it takes 20 minutes to nonstop a connection from determination to ngo power — too long, for example, if a crewmate's bosom suffers an arrhythmia.

"I deliberation health-care transportation is the fig 1 contented that needs to beryllium resolved earlier we're acceptable to motorboat the archetypal crew," Thirsk said connected Tuesday.

He says it'll beryllium indispensable to person a doc connected committee for the Mars crew, on with AI-enabled diagnostic and monitoring tools.

Despite their extended enactment connected committee the ISS, others person been successful abstraction overmuch longer than Wilmore and Williams. The grounds is held by Valery Polyakov, who was connected committee Russia's Mir station for 437 days, oregon much than 14 months, successful the mid 1990s.

Back then, Mir had an ultrasound connected committee to show changes to cosmonauts' health. It was astir the size of an ABM. 

Now, Asrar says, the ultrasound connected the ISS is the size of a gaming console.

Similarly, astronauts besides usage the Canadian Space Agency's Bio-Analyzer, a portable instrumentality that tests their blood, saliva and urine from conscionable a fewer drops. Wilmore's and Williams's readings from earlier their travel volition beryllium compared with their information now. 

Thirsk says astronauts are made good alert of the impacts of abstraction formation connected their abilities, including stress. Self-care, teamwork, cross-cultural skills and the quality to some pb and travel are each important skills for their careers. 

"I deliberation the quality betwixt a bully astronaut and a large astronaut is mastery of immoderate of these property traits," helium said.