This web seminar, the last of the NSDL series for the 2008-2009 school year, focused on the human physiological challenges of extended travel in outer space. Our presenter, Dr. Jim Pawelczyk, Associate Professor of Physiology & Kinesiology for the College of Health and Human Development at Pennsylvania State University, has studied the human effects of space travel as both a researcher and an astronaut.

If humans traveled to Mars, what research would be necessary for this to be successful from a physiological perspective? Past missions from the International Space Station and Skylab have shown that astronauts experienced levels of osteopenia, or loss of bone mineral deposits that greatly effect the probability of bone fractures once they return home. Some of this loss can be irreplaceable, according to Pawelczyk.

Resources from this presentation include links to the American Physiological Society, a BEN partner of the NSDL Biology Pathway.

You can view the archive of this seminar, as well as others from the NSDL series on the NSTA Learning Center website.