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By Coach Roskelley
When astronauts are onboard the International Space Station, micro gravity makes moving the easiest thing outside the world. A flick of a finger can send you flying across a room and your muscles don't even have to hold your head up. While that sounds like an ideal lazy life style, our bodies are meant to work. When we don't work our muscles and put pressure on our bones, we lose strength and bone density, which is very dangerous for the voyage back to Earth.
To prevent muscle and bone loss, astronauts follow a very strict exercise regimen using specialized exercise equipment that will operate in micro gravity.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, Expedition 20 flight engineer, exercises using the Interim Resistive Exercise Device (IRED) Credit: NASA JSC
Astronaut Sandra Magnus, Expedition 18 flight engineer, equipped with a bungee harness, exercises on the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS) Credit: NASA JSC
The exercise equipment on the International Space Station is specially design to still put stress and pressure on human muscles and bones to maintain muscle strength and bone density. Astronauts have a rigorous requirement of 2 hours of exercise every day. Even with that routine, many astronauts, especially after long duration stays in a weightless environment, still have to take a few days to adjust back to the forces of gravity when they return.
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