Space Missions Cause Brain Damage

Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov holds the record for the longest spaceflight. Polyakov spent 438 days in space, returning to Earth on March 22, 1995. (Image credit: NASA)


Staying in space for a long time can cause brain damage, according to a new study.

Being in space has well-documented negative effects on the body. But the effect of being in space on the brain has been studied less. A recent study examined five Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station for about five and a half months. The researchers found elevated levels of proteins in the blood that serve as biomarkers of brain damage.

The study, which was detailed Oct.11 in JAMA Neurology, was small, and the effects on the cosmonauts' brains did not seem to be major. Still, the research could lead to further examination of the effect of being in space on the brain, especially as people begin to spend even longer amounts of time in space.


"It's not like major traumatic brain injury or anything like that," Henrik Zetterberg, a neurochemist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and one the study's authors, told Space.com, adding that the damage was comparable to suffering a concussion. "But still, all of the cosmonauts have this pattern of biomarker change."  READ MORE...