Effects of Weightlessness Could Impede Moon Travel
By JOSEPH L. MYLER
Unitad Pr.ii International
Washington -OTP- Man may
not go to the moon and plan
ets after all.
A fact sometimes forgotten
in public preoccupation with
bigger and better rockets and
spacecraft is that no one yet
knows whether men can en
dure prolonged weightless
ness. Off hand, it might seem
strange if he could. All life
on earth has evolved in the
past two billion years or so
under the continuous influ
ence of gravity.
Is it reasonable to expect
the digestive, circ u 1 a t o r y,
muscular, skeletal, emotional
and mental equipment of a
creature so evolved to oper
ate as usual without the fa
miliar gravitational tug?
Some biologists and psy
chologists doubt it. It has
been suggested, for example,
that kidney stones may be
come an occupational malady
of space travelers.
Under weightlessness, pre
sumably, a skeleton created
to resist gravity won't need
as much stiffening calcium as
before. And excess calcium
can wind up in the human
system as kidney stones, a
cause of pain as excruciating,
perhaps, as gout or severe
bursitis.
This is but one of the pos
sible effects of weightlessness
on astronauts who may spend
a long time in that state. As
someone once said, man has
always been a "one-G ani
mal." One G is the force ex
erted by the earth's gravita
tional pull. It is what gives
you weight.
Weight Multiplied
Their accelerating rockets
subjected astronauts John H.
Glenn Jr. and Malcolm Scott
Carpenter to forces about 7V4
times gravity. That means
their weight was muitipled
7'i times.
Then as powered flight end
ed and they went into orbit -falling
around the earth at
constant speed - they abrupt
ly plunged into the eerie,
skin-prickling space dimen
sion of Zero-G, or weightless
ness. It was a novel sensation,
one of inexpressible release,
and for the iVi hours they
experienced it, Glenn and
Carpenter enjoyed the feel
ing of weightlessness.
But Soviet cosmonaut Gher
man S. Titov, who was weight
less for a day, suffered from
nausea after about six hours
of Zero-G.
It will take 2'i days to go
to the moon and as long to
return. A roundtrip to Mars
may take a year. No one
knows whether human be
ings, astronauts or cosmo
nauts, will be able to stand
weightlessness that long.
But by the time man's ma
chines are capable of taking
him to the moon, many of the
mysteries of weightlessness
should be solved. U.S. plans
call for orbital bouts with
zero-G lasting two weeks or
longer before an attempt is
made to plant men on the
moon.
It may be that man, who
has adjusted from life as a
tropical animal to life in the
Arctic and Antarctic, will be
able to adjust to weightless
ness, too.
Questions Aiked
But this is by no means
certain. Here are some of the
questions scientists are ask
ing: Can the heart function
properly without the help of
gravity?
Is gravity vital to the
movement of food through
the digestive apparatus? j
Would weightlessness
fpeed up the multiplication
of body cells or affect their
growth and function?
Would long periods of zero
G be like long confinement
in bed, tending to cause mus
cle atrophy and we ncss?
Is it likely, as has been
suggested, that the penolog
ical effects of weightlessness
may prove to be intolerable?
Speculation about the pos-
Missionary Program
Begun By Countries
Nashville, Tenn. - (UPD - A
missionary - in - reverse pro
gram will be conducted by
the Methodist church in the
fall when leading Christians
from other countries will
participate in a "mission to
America."
The leaders will be avail
able for missions lasting six
to eight days in churches that
Invite them. The missionaries
will come from Africa. Asia,
Latin America and Europe
between Sept. 7 and Dec. 16.
ibly bad effects of weight
lessness has stimulated specu
lation about possible ways of
relieving them.
Physical exercise in the
limited quarters of the space
craft, intermittent aDDlication
of tourniquets to give the cir
culatory system something to
work against, and drugs to
combat nausea and disorien
tation have been suggested.
Dr. Terence A. Rogers,
Stanford university physiolo
gist, has given considerable
thought to the psycho-somatic
consequences of weightlessness.
'If they prove lo be intol
erable," he said in a "Scien
tific American" article, the
vehicle could be accelerated
at a fraction of a G to about
the halfway point and then
decelerated for the remainder
of the voyage.
"Alternatively, sluw rota
tion of the vehicle would ap
ply a small ce:itriius:il effect.
Either of these maneuvers
MEDFORDtJTMBUNE
SECTION B MEDFORD, OREGON. THURSDAY. JULY 12, 1962 PAGES 1 to 8
would give rise to a slight but
comforting sensation of
weight for the crew."
Would any of these sugges
tions really work? At the mo
ment, nobody knows.
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