In reality Chris Pine’s character in Star Trek might well have looked more like Seinfeld’s George Costanza—that is, if the makers of the sci-fi flick had considered the fact that long-term space travel is likely to make a person look fat and ugly.
Besides food and water, humans need gravity in order to look normal—without it, our muscles would wither away, our bones wouldn’t develop properly, and our faces would become bloated. According to astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell at the University College London, when a person is in space for an extended amount of time, fluids that are normally kept in the lower limbs start to accumulate in the head, causing it to swell up. The hair would fall out, because hair is no longer needed to help keep the bodywarm. To top it all off, astronauts could expect the onset of space-obesity, the result of a lack of exercise in microgravity.
Granted, the extreme effects of zero G would likely only kick in if the astronauts lived in space for a year or more.
A decline in appearance isn’t the only Debbie Downer about space travel: It can also make you sick. Even on short trips, astronauts have complained about “exploding” headaches en route to and from the International Space Station. They’re a result of “puffy face syndrome” and the lack of gravity, causing fluids to shift from lower parts of body to other areas.
But you don’t necessarily need a ticket to space to know what a space headache feels like —you can get them here on Earth.
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DISCOVER: Biocentric Universe
Image: flickr/ skookums
June 8th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
So Wall-E basically got it right, then?
June 8th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Just have to point out that in the Star Trek universe, the Federation ships have artificial gravity.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
A zero gravity environment slowly weakens the human body until you have all the strngth of a balerina!
June 8th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
QUASAR, have you ever watched a ballerina? Not a good analogy…
Also, Scott & Star Trek got it right, while Wall-E and this blog fail to consider the effects of artificial gravity.
I bet if/when humans do finally go to another planet that they’ll do it in a ship that spins to generate artificial gravity. Otherwise, even Mars’ 38%-Earth gravity would incapacitate us on landing.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
One other thing – he says “hair would fall out, because hair is no longer needed to help keep the body warm.”
That’s just stupid – do people who live nearer the poles go bald less than people who live near the equator? Has the advent of central heating and air changed rates of baldness?
Give me a break…
June 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
C H, just like the spacecraft in that Discovery Channel film ‘Race to Mars’ or the Leonov in the 2010 film!
June 10th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Sorry to do this, but it’s Christopher PIKE.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Or, and I just thought of this, were you referring to the actor in the new Star Trek movie? If so, I’m really sorry, as I thought you were referring to the character Captain Christopher Pike. More fool me!
July 1st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
[...] Content: Discoblog: Warning, Astronauts: You Might Return from Space Bloated and Bald Discoblog: Where No Film Has Gone Before: <em>Star Trek</em> Screened in Space [...]