Being an astronaut is not easy — you need an extraordinary combination of courage, physical fitness, intelligence, ability to make decisions quickly and stay calm under the most intense pressure. Then you might take into space. But maybe not. When NASA chose its first astronauts in the late 1950-ies, the Agency was focusing only on the best military and pilots-testers who were in the United States. The Soviet Union did the same, but pointed out that the astronauts should be no higher than 170 centimeters to squeeze in a capsule “the East” and the paratroopers because they had to eject from the capsule during reentry. Unlike the Americans, the USSR had women astronauts.
Since then, space has been the scientists, engineers, and doctors. But throughout the 60 years of space exploration all they had to conform to the highest criteria of “quality”. Take, for example, the recruitment of astronauts of ESA, which was held in 2009. Of the six selected three astronauts were military pilots while the fourth pilot of commercial flights. In the list of Hobbies of the other two astronauts had been skydiving and mountain climbing.
But despite the choice of the best of the best, people continue to feel bad in space. We are the products of 3.8 billion years of evolution that took place in a comfortable, oxygen-rich atmosphere protected by a magnetic bubble (magnetosphere) from the harsh Universe. Away from Earth, astronauts bombarded by cosmic radiation that made them nauseous, muscles and bones lose mass, and vision decreases, and even the immune system is weakened as a result of zero gravity.
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano told me that he was amazed at how quickly changed his body for five and a half months in orbit the International space station. “There is an adaptation, which is similar to the transformation,” he says. “Your legs are thinner and the rounder face — the body adapts to the new normal conditions”.
He also noticed changes in their movements. “First you try to move horizontally because they are afraid to face something and because I’m used that all parts of your body move in different ways,” he says. “In six weeks, you will again begin to move vertically, you have adapted to space, you’re already a denizen of heaven”.
But some adaptations are not enough. “The legs are not very useful in space,” said Parmitano. “I wouldn’t have to cut off, but why don’t I turn them into my hands? Two sets of hands would be useful in space, because you could hold the handrails and use the other hand to work.”
“Stabilizing tail would also be incredibly interesting because a three point stability is better than two,” he says.
As astronauts and cosmonauts spend more and more time in space — a real record belongs to Valeriy Polyakov, for a 437-day stay and long — term missions planned for the moon and Mars, we have to rethink spacecraft and space dwellings so the astronauts were healthy and in shape. The screens to protect them from radiation, complex system of life support and artificial gravity — all this is a must for long flights.
But what if instead of trying to adapt the space under people, we could adapt people to the space?
“You can imagine how it will look in the future space people, and it’s not shocking and not surprising — is that we can and should do,” said Parmitano.
Discussing the topic at the annual seminar Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop in Huntsville, Alabama. Here scientists of space agencies, engineers, and enthusiasts coming together to discuss the future of the colony in orbit, space ships and other tricks that will help humanity to find brave new worlds.
Neuroscientist Robert Hampson, studied the effect of radiation on the brain, leading the working group on adaptation. “It will take a lot of time and materials for the terraforming of the planet, for example,” he says. “But we could find a way to make people more adapted to the lower gravity and a different atmosphere”.
To some extent, like today’s astronauts, future space colonists will probably be chosen on the basis of their suitability for long-term space flights. They may have good natural resistance to radiation, high bone density or a strong immune system. These traits will be passed on to the next generation that will only know the space.
“If you take a young couple and a spaceship for the formation of the colony, they will have children that will be adapted to this colony and not to the Ground,” says Hampson. “Parents decide to do so for the sake of posterity and future generations”.
Will be generation, and space people will differ from their terrestrial ancestors. But not much. Almost certainly they will have one pair of hands. “Evolution is slow,” says Hampson. “The question is, how much we could push evolution?”.
To live in a bleak, barren, alien environment, such as Mars, and even to raise children — it’s scary. But genetic engineering could overcome any moral objections. We could use genetic engineering to create human embryos that will be better than we are adapted to a different planet. Now, genetic engineering techniques are used to combat hereditary diseases.
“It is a moral duty to give the child every advantage that will allow him to not only survive, but thrive,” says Hampson. “To live, to work, to be successful and healthy and to give life to their own children and offspring.”
Most likely, when people begin to leave EN masse the Land, we will have to adapt to a new environment. Instead of finding Earth 2.0, we could create Humans 2.0. They could even have four arms and a tail.
“It’s interesting to think about how to live in an environment that is not limited by gravity,” said Parmitano. “The chances of finding a second Earth is very small, but the thought of other conditions that could live people, too attractive to me… but that’s me.”
Is it possible to create the perfect astronaut using genetic engineering?
Ilya Hel