Word: cosmonautics
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Another possible hazard on a long space journey has its source on planet earth: human nature. Soviet flights have demonstrated that performance levels begin to decrease as the days stretch into months. Cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, whose 326 days aboard the space station Mir set a space endurance record last year, was down to only two hours of productive work a day toward the end of his eleven-month flight and had become decidedly peevish. "Leave me alone," he once snapped to mission control. "I have a lot of work...
Soviet space doctors seem more sanguine. While no American has stayed in space for more than three months, the Soviets have repeatedly staged manned flights of longer duration, capped by the 326-day stay of Cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko last year aboard the orbiting space station Mir. "The experience of that flight," says Dr. Arkadi Ushakov of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, "testifies that we should be optimistic about long-duration space flight. Our knowledge in the field of weightlessness is growing, and we are learning what countermeasures need to be taken to ensure health and safety...
...remarkable recovery was a triumph for the Soviet space program. One concern that has clouded plans for a manned mission to Mars is the fear that cosmonauts' health would deteriorate badly in the extended weightlessness of the 30-month round-trip voyage. "Now," says Cosmonaut Training Commander Vladimir Shatalov, "we are sure that it is possible to complete such a mission...
...obvious solution was a regular exercise regimen. After a few false starts, the Soviets seem to have found an effective in-flight training program. Cosmonauts now spend their waking hours in a "penguin suit," a running suit laced with elastic cords that creates resistance -- and needed exertion -- with nearly every move they make. They also go through extensive workouts that include two-mile runs on a treadmill. Throughout their missions cosmonauts stay on a diet designed to keep physical deterioration to a minimum. Romanenko's doctors say he lost at most 5% of his bone calcium, while other cosmonauts, although...
...Soviet cosmonaut recovers from a record 326- day mission in record time. -- Reagan okays high- resolution U. S. satellite photos...