Harry Coumnas, a renowned scientist is curious to know whether living in space could be better than living on earth. According to him, living is space is not the same as living on Earth. On Earth, our lower bodies and legs carry out weight which helps keep our bones and muscles strong. However, in space, the astronauts float! With the minimum use of their legs, their lower backs begin to lose strength and the bones begin to get weak and thin. As it is bad for the astronaut’s bodies, they need to exercise in space every day.

As per Harry, when we stand on Earth, the blood goes to our legs and thus, the heart has to work extra hard against the gravity to move the blood all around the body. However, in space, the blood moves to the upper body and head. When the astronauts come back to Earth, they do not have enough fluid in their systems, thus taking a few days to make more blood and water. They need to take adequate rest so that their bodies have time to make fluids.

Harry Coumnas believes that human body is designed to work with the pull of Earth’s gravity. Fortunately, our body adapts quickly to life in orbit. Talking about sleeping in space, it is just not possible to ‘lie down’ to sleep in such weightless environment. Living in a microgravity environment means astronauts have fewer resources than on Earth and that makes surviving more difficult.

About Harry Coumnas

Harry Coumnas is an American scientist who is leading a space settlement project being conducted by the International Interplanetary Society. Along with that, he is also researching about life on Mars.