I Don't Want to Be an Astronaut

Erin in suspension.

Stardust Holiday is the blog of a woman who is doing a twelve week NASA study at the Cleveland Clinic. She has to be in bed for twelve weeks with her head tilted six degrees down. Periodically she gets subjected to tests--she reports that the suspension is fun.

During spaceflight an astronaut experiences many effects on his or her body due to the effects of microgravity. The 6 degree head down position simulates microgravity that occurs in space.

The purpose of this research study is to determine if zero gravity exercise can serve to prevent loss of bone mineral density and muscle during 12 weeks of complete bed rest, and by extension, during 12 weeks of space flight.

This sounds like torture. Laurie Anderson once compared space flight to being stuck in a station wagon with other people for a long time. This adds the caveat of being stuck in bed in a station wagon with other people for a long time.