Did you ever dream of being an astronaut as a kid? Perhaps you had visions of yourself in a rocket ship or walking on the moon or even being the first to touch down on Mars! It's great to have dreams, but like all things, you should know what you're getting into before you commit. Being in space is physically challenging on your body and emotionally challenging on your mind; because of that many studies have been done on astronauts to see how space missions can affect them.
If you go up in space you can expect to experience aging (the telomeres on your DNA actually shorten at a faster rate in space) and radiation from galactic cosmic rays that can change the atomic structure of your body. In space the average amount of radiation that you'd be exposed to in 6 months is 20-40 times higher than the amount that you'd be exposed to in a year on Earth. You would likely also experience bloating due to the fluids in your body being distributed differently without gravity, 1-2% of bone density loss every month, and even a loss of your sense of taste. Still think it's all worth it? To learn more, watch the video!
