"JimO" writes:
Any progress on NASA's studying
the Russian proposal for the next ISS
crew to stay up for 12 months?

From what i can hear, there's
a major internal debate over this
idea -- go for it, or be cautious.

jeff findley wrote in message ...
I find some of the comments (in your article) by NASA astronauts very
disturbing. They make it sound like they wouldn't consider taking
that long of a mission. If that's the case, perhaps NASA needs to
"clean house" very soon. If we aren't flying astronauts now that are
willing to perform long duration missions, how do we ever expect to
get to Mars?

Correct. Though the question that one need to ask is... is it right to
send those people out there that long?

I find it amazing that none of the Human Rights organizations object
to long term space missions, but then again, HR organizations are made
to pressure organizations and countries, and not made to help humans.
Of course, I'm sure that if their boss told them to pressure/harass
NASA or any other space organization because cruel treatment to
astronauts/cosmonauts/taikonauts/and so on, they will do so.

By the way, the longest record for long stay hold by Mir is 437 days,
done by Valeri Polyakov, and he was quite all right when he got back
despite his stay in orbit and his quite moderate age (52 years old).

http://www.airspacemag.com/asm/mag/supp/jj96/supp1.html

However it should be noted that Valeri gets constant supplies, regular
and almost instaneous communication, within short distance of Earth
and capable of going back to Earth at almost anytime, and have a big
view of Earth ("Your infatuation with this planet is irrational.").

So... While a long stay on a space station orbiting on has been done
without a quite unhealthy effect, a trip to Mars might be different.
It also should be noted that long stay breaking records till now are
only done aboard Mir, and not aboard the ISS. Maybe someone wanted to
set a new record aboard the ISS too?



Anyway. If one want to have astronauts up there for quite a long time
and they don't want to, there's one way to do so.

Trick them.

Just send them up there, tell them that it's only for a few months,
then later on after a few months, ask them to stay up there for a few
more months, and again, and again, so on till the desire amount of
time needed is fulfilled or they threaten to mutiny or about to gone
insane.


If there really are medical issues with flights this long, wouldn't it
be prudent to find out about them a.s.a.p.?

If there are medical issues with flight this long, shouldn't it be no
one is allowed to do so?

If this does turn out to
be the case, the solution could be an engineering one. You split your
ship into two parts, separated by a long cable, and spin the thing for
the trip to and from Mars.

I don't know if this way is preferable, since that it will require the
spacecraft to spin around while traveling. Then there's the fact that
people tend to forget, that spacecrafts are travelling at a high speed
and that space is NOT empty, where's the deflector dish?

And also the physical illness of long term stay in space are not also
due the lack of gravity influences or lack of gravity-like influences.

Of course, physical problems isn't the only thing, since there're also
mental and social problems with people being separated from their
community so long.

If it turns out such a solution is
necessary, it would be nice to know about this as far in advance as
possible so prototype designs can be built and tested in LEO.

Jeff