Keep Fit in Space

When people don't feel well, they go to see the doctor and take medicine. Though astronauts may also face health problems in space, both physically 1 and mentally, how do they go about finding medical treatment? And what do they do to improve their health in zero gravity?

As China's first space lab is set to launch later this week, designers have also taken these factors into consideration.

CRI's Shuangfeng reports from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

 

The environment in space is far different from that on earth.

Though astronauts have trained to adapt themselves to the conditions of zero gravity, they may still experience discomfort 2 or disorders 3 when they are actually up there.

Wang Xianmin is vice 4 chief designer of the mission's astronaut system.

"Due to weightlessness in space, astronauts may experience certain disorders, but not necessarily illness. Usually, they will recover from any kind of disorders after three to five days. But our doctors have taken measures to deal with these problems, especially in terms of traditional Chinese medicine. We have tried Chinese medicine on the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, and it worked quite well."

One of the greatest health dangers of space travel is bone loss, a disease in which bones become weak and fragile.

Medical experts say astronauts lose about 10 times more bone every month than a post-menopausal woman on Earth.

Bone loss occurs presumably because astronauts don't do enough load-bearing exercise in zero gravity.

With this in mind, Chinese designers have outfitted 5 the space lab with fitness equipment and medical devices that monitor the health status of the astronauts.

"We've installed some new facilities to deal with the adverse 6 impacts of long-term presence in zero gravity. For example, we have an exercise bike for astronauts to ride every day. We also have a bucket-shaped device which will help reduce blood pressure in the brain. Aside from these things, we have an instrument to record astronauts' bone status for future research and for the development of anti-bone loss equipment."

Besides gym equipment, there are also other medical devices onboard the space lab which will monitor the astronauts' health and provide them with healthy advice.

"The medical equipment is designed to safeguard and monitor the astronauts' health, and give regular assessments 7 of their organs and fitness levels. When they are in space, their physical condition may change as a result of weightlessness. We need these devices to monitor their health and adjust their workload 8 accordingly."

The space module 9 is also equipped with recreational facilities to help astronauts relax.

In the future, as astronauts may stay longer in space, more facilities such as these will be installed in future space modules 10.

For CRI, this is Shuangfeng reporting from Jiuquan.