From the early days of spaceflight to current missions, astronauts continue to be exposed to multiple hazards that affect human health, including low gravity, high radiation, isolation during long-duration missions, a closed environment and distance from Earth. Their effects can lead to adverse physiological changes and necessitate countermeasure development and/or longitudinal monitoring. A time-resolved analysis of biological signals can detect and better characterize potential adverse events during spaceflight, ideally preventing them and maintaining astronauts' wellness. Here we provide a time-resolved assessment of the impact of spaceflight on multiple astronauts (n = 27) by studying multiple biochemical and immune measurements before, during, and after long-duration orbital spaceflight. We reveal space-associated changes of astronauts' physiology on both the individual level and across astronauts, including associations with bone resorption and kidney function, as well as immune-system dysregulation.
Keywords: astronaut; immune response; metabolites; microgravity; nutrition; time series.
Copyright © 2023 United States Government as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Minzhang Zheng, Jacqueline Charvat, Jin He, Carlo Piermarocchi and George I. Mias. At least a portion of this work is authored by Sara R. Zwart, Satish K. Mehta, Brian E. Crucian, and Scott M. Smith on behalf of the U.S government and, as regards Dr. Zwart, Dr. Mehta, Dr. Crucian, Dr. Smith, U.S. copyright protection does not attach to separable portions of a Work authored solely by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties. The U.S. Government is the owner of foreign copyrights in such separable portions of the Work and is a joint owner (with any non-U.S. Government author) of U.S. and foreign copyrights that may be asserted in inseparable portions the Work. The U.S. Government retains the right to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works, perform, and display portions of the Work authored solely or co-authored by a U.S. Government employee. Non-U.S copyrights also apply.