Impacts of the Spaceflight to the Immune System

Abstract

Changes the gravity has a significant affect on the immune system. Astronauts experience the gravity changing during spaceflight, especially when launching and landing they experience hypergravity, and during spaceflight they feel microgravity. Both hypergravity and microgravity has an impact to the immune system, but not the same effect. These impacts have been investigated extensively during spaceflight in astronauts and in model experiments conducted on Earth as well. Astronauts during spaceflight feel the hypergravity, psychological stress, fear, high doses of radiation and microgravity. All these factors and changes may affect immune system directly or indirectly.

Keywords

• immune system
• aerospace medicine
• hypergravity
• altered gravity
• lymphopoiesis