• Question: can we live in space?

    Asked by 11zarwhi to James, Marcus, Martin, Rob, Suzanne on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Marcus Gallagher-Jones

      Marcus Gallagher-Jones answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Sure we can, there are people up there right now.
      http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEMZXJWJD1E_LifeinSpace_0.html
      The problem is staying up there a long time. The lack of gravity does funny things to your bones and muscles which are not healthy. Also an extended period of stay exposes you to a great deal of background radiation which is particularly harmful to the cells of your body.

    • Photo: Martin Zaltz Austwick

      Martin Zaltz Austwick answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      I doubt human beings will ever be able to live in a vacuum, or at the very high and very low temperatures that you get it space. But we might be able to build spacecraft and colonies that would let us live in space or on other planets for long periods.

      I think living in space for a bit would be fun, but there are lots of amazing things on the earth worth seeing too!

    • Photo: Suzanne McEndoo

      Suzanne McEndoo answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      I hope so. It would be a terrible shame if we never got off planet earth. I don’t see any absolute reason why not, although we’d have to figure out a lot of technical issues to make it practically happen.

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