Time-in-Space Record Broken

NoFrance writes "Russian cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev has taken the record for most time spent in space away from fellow Russian Sergei Avdeyev. At 748 days in space, Krikalev has an impressive list of accomplishments to his name, including : back-to-back 6 month tours on mir, he flew on the first joint US-Russian space shuttle mission, and a member of the first crew to live on ISS. He is currently commander of the ISS in a six-month stint that began on 14 April. Most impressive is his ability to deal with the physical hardships in space. In space most people lose around 1.5% of their bone mass per month, even with a disciplined exercise regime. And growing the bone mass lost from a 6 month stint back, can take a long time."

748 days?

[slavemowgli]

748 days? Wow. Think about that - it's more than two years. Quite an accomplishment indeed.

Out of curiosity, what's the record amount of time spent in space by a US-American astronaut?

10m+

[rd4tech]

Many space-farers go through a syndrome similar to depression after the novelty and excitement of the first few weeks in space wears off. It is marked by fatigue, lack of motivation, irritability, and problems sleeping.

They better make those soon-to-be-here flight to moon & mars entertaining, otherwise, they might get sued by guys who are able to pay 10+ milion for a vacation :)

Worker's comp lawsuit?

[defile]

Actually, do astronauts get plain vanilla worker's comp like the rest of us here in the states, or does NASA have some custom designed insurance policy?

Re:Forgive me...

[Feminist-Mom]

Remember in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", if an earthling spent a few months on Luna then the could never return. (Unless they did some special kind of centrifuged exercising.) Apparently Heinlein wasn't quite right.

Re:748 days?

[Rei]

Think about that - it's more than two years

And he's gained 2 milliseconds compared to people on the ground! :) Assuming I'm doing the math right here...

Retire to Mars?

[RobertB-DC]

In previous discussions about a mission to Mars, the suggestion often comes up about a one-way trip -- one or more explorers who make the trip with no intention of coming back. Pioneers, really, rather than explorers.

This poor guy, who keeps getting tapped for "hey, ya think you can spend another year or so in zero-g, tovarisch?" is probably having it worse and worse when he comes back to Terra. How much of his "stamina" is due to some freak of biology, and how much comes straight from a Soviet-era "We invented it first, and better!" mindset?

If he's starting to feel those months in space when he's back on Earth, maybe Krikalev might want to take it easy in his retirement. Like, about 62% easier [caltech.edu]? Although medical facilities on Mars might be a bit lacking, even by Soviet standards [emedicine.com].

How do you regain bone mass?

[artifex2004]

It's a simple question, I know, but if the exercise program isn't doing it, what else makes the bone mass come back?

Re:10m+

[AKAImBatman]

The problem is risk. Just because you've screened the candidates to find people who are least likely to be bothered by the small spaces, doesn't mean that they won't crack. Placing a crew under those conditions for three years or so (especially when the crew will get some tastes of freedom on Mars) is one heck of a gamble to take.

Plus, it's not a very useful long term solution. If we're going to have regular missions to Mars, we can't reasonably make sure that every person to go can handle the stress.

There are also other issues that would require the larger engines. For example, a very long trip to Mars would exasperate the radiation damage done to the crew during the trip. Shortening that trip would help guarantee the health of the crew and the success of the mission.

Besides, I'm not just putting out wild ideas here. The words "Nuclear Thermal Rocket" have been bandied about quite a bit in relation to the Mars spiral of the CEV program. Even the Moon transport spiral is seriously considering the use of these engines. We have the technology, so why not use it?

Re:10m+

[p3d0]

Not really. The Mars Direct [astronautix.com] plan calls for a maximum of 130 contiguous days in space (on the return trip) with three other people, using chemical rockets, in a relatively large habitation module which (if I recall) is not much smaller than my apartment. If I reorganized my apartment specifically for the purpose, I'm sure four of us could spend 5 months in there without going batty.

What's the problem?

[Jhan]

... Basically, it would require a structure of a few hundred meters radius rotating at a few rpm. The scale of such a habitat would be enormous ....

I keep hearing this over and over. So, make the spacecraft be able to split into two equal parts. Include a few hundred meters of cable to connect the parts. Rotate.

What's the problem?

Re:If you've ever met Mrs. Krikalev...

[Mondoz]

Haven't met her, but I've had the pleasure of meeting with him on several occasions.
He's exceptionally smart, terribly friendly, and has an amazing presence when he enters a room.

There's a lot of astronauts & cosmonauts that have succumbed to the prima donna syndrome, and don't come off as being nearly as impressive.

Re:artificial gravity

[R3d M3rcury]

How about a small spinning doohickey?

One of those things that, in my opinion, NASA should be studying is how much gravity is needed and how often.

For example, could the astronauts sleep in gravity for eight hours? One would assume not, since when you're sleeping you're not moving around (okay, give them uncomfortable mattresses :^). On the other hand, from what I understand, the body "detects" that you don't need such tough bones if you're in zero-G so would being in 1G--even asleep--make the body realize that you do need the bone mass? Maybe all they need is a spinning bedroom?

What about prolonged exposure to 1/8th G, like on the Moon? Will that be attenuated by people going outside in big bulky spacesuits? If I remember my trivia correctly, the astronauts on the moon "weighed" about 180 pounds (moon weight) but were carrying 300 some-odd pounds (earth weight) of equipment to get to that 180. Will people working in "shirt-sleeve" conditions on the moon need to put rocks in their pockets?

This is one of those things that sort of torques me off with NASA. They have done countless studies on the effects of weightlessness on the human body. They've found various problems. But they don't seem to be doing anything to solve the problems.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut, I sometimes think that NASA hasn't solved this problem "on purpose." Why? Because, hey, let's face it--weightlessness is cool. I caught a little bit of NASA TV over the weekend when they were replaying the video taken when the Shuttle astronauts came aboard ISS. People were floating around, bouncing off the walls, etc. It looked really cool. If everything looked "normal" with people walking around, it's a little less interesting to the TV viewer.

Question about solar rays, etc long times in space

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the worries about sending astronauts on long insterplanetary voyages is that solar radiation can cause cancer after months of exposure. My question then: Isn't he supposed to be at risk of developing cancer?

Or is he still protected by the earth's magnetic field (then again, that won't sheild photons.)

Krikalev is a space-badass!

[Dr. Spork]

The reason why Krikalev has all this mission time is that he's shockingly competent and comfortable in the very stressful environment of space. They've tried out many people, but from what I read, conditions that would cripple an ordinary tough guy don't get to Krikalev. I mean, come on, his other job is stunt pilot. This guy is a badass and I hope he fathers a superior race of superspacebeings.

Does the opposite hold true?

[CyricZ]

Would a person in a high-gravity situation (relative to earth's gravity) gain far more bone mass? Perhaps in the future days of commercial space travel we will see professional athletes going on sabbaticals to space stations around Jupiter to take advantage of the increased gravity. When they come back to earth with higher bone mass they could then proceed to gain more muscle mass when working out, in order to gain an edge over their competition.