Word: space
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...many influential voices have been raised against it. None is more formidable than that of University of Iowa Physicist James Van Allen, the discoverer in 1958 of the earth-girdling radiation belts that today bear his name. With other scientists, he has long been critical of the shuttle, the space station and other programs that draw funds away from space science. "Any serious talk of a manned Mars mission at this time is grossly inappropriate," he says, arguing that the top priority of the U.S. should be to develop and build expendable rockets to launch satellites and space probes...
...imposing as the problems of extended space flight seem, most experts are confident that humans can survive the journey to Mars. But in what shape will they be when they get there? Says NASA Physicist Wendell Mendell: "It doesn't do you much good to deliver a human to the Martian surface if that human is inert for a time after landing...
Despite the experience gained from Apollo moon shots and the longer Skylab missions, U.S. doctors have some doubts about the ability of humans to withstand the effects not only of prolonged weightlessness but also of the transitions from gravity on earth (one G) to zero G in space to 0.38 G on Mars. "We're nowhere near ready to send a human to Mars," says Dr. Michael Bungo, director of NASA's Space Biomedical Research Institute at the Johnson Space Center. "We've got years more of basic research...
...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...
...Soviets have also detected changes in metabolic rates, which they say accelerate arteriosclerosis. Then there is the problem of neuromuscular control. Cosmonauts returning to earth after long flights have had trouble performing simple tasks like throwing a ball. Arriving on Mars, space travelers might be unable to carry out assignments...