Elroy Willis wrote:

And radiation bad for (your health), also unfortunately. Apparently so-called
"cosmic" radiation will be a real problem for interplanetary travel. Not
so much for the ISS in LEO, since it's well within the Earth's magnetic
field.

On the other hand, there was a recent paper on antioxidant therapy to
reduce the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation.

I watched an interview with some of the first astronauts, and they all
reported seeing random flashes of light that they couldn't explain at
first. Turns out it was cosmic rays hitting their optic nerves and
frying them. They weren't exposed long enough to do heavy damage,
but it shows how dangerous it can be out there without some kind
of good shielding.

I'm wondering how many mutated babies would be born in space
since the cosmic rays can alter the DNA in sperm and egg cells.
20 years on a ship going to some nearby star would be a long
enough time to alter quite a few cells.

Reed Richards might well have something to say about this.

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