Exercise — and echocardiograms — in space protected astronauts’ hearts in study — SkimNews
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- Thirteen astronauts performed their own onboard echocardiograms during six months in space, with ground-based sonographers remotely guiding probe placement in real time, in a study published Tuesday in Circulation.
- Lead author Benjamin Levine, director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, reported that initial changes in heart structure and function stabilized over six months and returned to normal after returning to Earth, with exercise regimens credited for the protection.
- The researchers observed that no astronaut had a cardiovascular response more stressed than upright posture on Earth before flight, even after exposure to a simulated Mars-like gravity of three-eighths of Earth's, which Levine called 'really reassuring.'
- Levine warned the findings may not hold for injured astronauts who cannot exercise, saying they 'might be more compromised when they land,' since some study participants received IV infusions and extensive medical support on return.
- NASA is planning a Mars mission for 2035 requiring two six-month microgravity journeys bracketing 18 months on the planet, raising the stakes for fitting cardiovascular exercise countermeasures into a vehicle smaller than the space station.
- Levine linked the work to POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), calling it a 'gravity disease,' and said his treatment approach for those patients has been informed by the spaceflight findings.
Why it matters: With a 2035 Mars mission on the horizon and a first-ever astronaut medical evacuation in January, cardiovascular safety has become a concrete design constraint for long missions — forcing NASA to decide how much exercise equipment must fit on a vehicle smaller than the ISS.
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