[ RadSafe ] Space Radiation Devastated the Lives of Apollo Astronauts

[KARAM, PHILIP]

Keep in mind that the Apollo program ended over 40 years ago so ALL of the Apollo astronauts are getting up there in years. Add to that the fact that heart disease and cancer are huge causes of mortality among people of that age in the US. I don't know that we can necessarily say that, because a small group of men, who are now in their 70s and 80s, have died of heart disease that exposure to elevated doses of cosmic radiation 40-50 years ago has caused the heart disease.

First - it's a small number of people (24)
Second - it's a common cause of death
Third - they're in the death-prone years

With such a small population size and such a common cause of death, unless they are all dying of a very rare form of heart disease that might plausibly be caused by exposure to solar or galactic cosmic rays, it seems unlikely that we could draw any conclusions at all.

Andy


P. Andrew Karam, PhD, CHP
NYPD Counterterrorism
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-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Rahim Ghanooni
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2016 10:36 PM
To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List'
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Space Radiation Devastated the Lives of Apollo Astronauts

New research points to serious concerns about human survival during deep space travel.

A startling new study has revealed that a troubling number of the lunar astronauts from NASA's Apollo program are suffering high mortality rates due to heart disease. The cause? Exposure to high levels of deep space radiation during their trip to the Moon.

This is the first time research has been done into the mortality of the Apollo astronauts and it was published in Scientific Reports by Professor and Dean of the college of Human Sciences at Florida State University, Michael Delp. The conclusions drawn from studying the deaths of the only humans that have ventured into deep space casts an immense shadow on the manned missions to Mars being planned by both NASA and SpaceX.

"We know very little about the effects of deep space radiation on human health, particularly on the cardiovascular system," said Delp in an official release. "This gives us the first glimpse into its adverse effects on humans." Deep space refers to the frontier beyond Earth's protective magnetosphere and atmosphere where only 24 humans in history-all Apollo astronauts, have ever travelled.

http://observer.com/2016/07/space-radiation-devastated-the-lives-of-apollo-a
stronauts/


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