Grappling with Gravity: How Will Life Adapt to Living in Space?

by Robert W. Phillips

Overview

Grappling with Gravity explores the physiological changes that will occur in humans and the plants and animals that accompany humans as we move to new worlds, be it to colony in the emptiness of space or settlements on the Moon, Mars, or other moons or planets. This book focuses on the biomedical aspects, while not ignoring other life-changing influences of space living. For example, what happens to people physiologically in the microgravity of space, where weight and the direction "up" become meaningless? Adapting to microgravity represents the greatest environmental challenge that life will have encountered since our ancestors moved from the seas to solid Earth. Away from Earth the human body will begin almost immediately to adapt and change, to be able to function in these strange environments. As a person adapts in space he or she will become less fit to live on Earth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441968982
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	10/08/2011
Series:	Astronomers' Universe
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	271
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

Robert Phillips is a veterinarian and has also a doctorate in Physiology/Nutrition. He taught and conducted research at Colorado State University until 1984, when he was selected by NASA to fly on the"Spacelab Life Sciences 1," the first shuttle mission devoted to biomedical research. Ten months prior to launch Phillips had to remove himself from flight status due to a medical condition. He supported the mission from the payload operations control center. Following the mission, Phillips served for three years at NASA HQ as the Space Station Chief Scientist during the station's design phase. He then joined the NASA Life Sciences Education and Outreach program for 10 years, presenting seminars and workshops to teachers, students, and the public about the effects of spaceflight on life.

Table of Contents

Part I: Space Here We Come.- Chapter 1: A Great New Adventure.- Chapter 2: The Long Road to Space Flight.- Chapter 3: Why Go to Space?.- Chapter 4: Change and Prosper.- Chapter 5: Everything is Topsy-Turvy.- Chapter 6: Tomorrow's Tourist Adventures.- Part II: Life in Space.- Chapter 7: Taking Your Body to Space.- Chapter 8: Behavior in Space.- Chapter 9: An Essential Activity.- Part III: Preparing for the Future.- Chapter 10: Living Away from Earth.- Chapter 11: Taking the Plow to Mars.- Chapter 12: Speculations.- Appendix A.- Appendix B.- Acronyms.- Glossary.- Index.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

“In Robert W. Phillips’ book, Grappling with Gravity, one can read mostly about some of the biggest problems that astronauts face in micro-gravity … . an ideal book for those interested in the changes that the human body will experience away from the familiar Earth’s environment. … it is written in a simple way, so it might even be suitable for younger readers who have a little bit of knowledge about how the human body works.” (Kadri Tinn, AstroMadness.com, May, 2014)

“Written for the layman … this is an informative survey of the problems and the effects associated with microgravity space flight. … The book is an excellent guide to the general conditions experienced in microgravity and provides a potted history of flight through the atmosphere and early missions into space from the physiological perspective. … With 271 pages and 113 illustrations, this is a worthy little book and one that is an easy and satisfying read … .” (Spaceflight, Vol. 54 (7), July, 2012)

From the Publisher