Spaceflight Osteopenia

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Spaceflight osteopenia refers to the characteristic bone loss that occurs during spaceflight. Astronauts lose an average of more than 1% bone mass per month spent in space. There is concern that during long duration flights, excessive bone loss and the associated increase in serum calcium ion levels will interfere with execution of mission tasks and result in irreversible skeletal damage. Bone loss has been noticed at least as early as Gemini. Although most early measurements of the amount of bone loss were not reliable,[2] they did show bone loss in Gemini, Soyuz 9, Apollo, Skylab, Salyut 7, Mir, and the International Space Station. William E. Thornton, an astronaut and physician, was one of the biggest proponents of exercise as a way of preventing bone loss.

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