• Question: Why cant you be an Astronaut if you have broken a bone?

    Asked by Aj to Gavin, Karen, Mark, Michel, Roisin on 11 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Roisin Jones

      Roisin Jones answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      I don’t actually know a lot about the requirements for being an astronaut, and having looked at the NASA website, I couldn’t see anything about broken bones, however, if it’s true, my guess would be they’re worried about potentially points in the bone, as going into space lessens your bone density making the bones weaker, so it’s possible that a previous weakness could lead to another break. I honestly couldn’t find anything official that suggests that previous broken bones would prevent you from becoming an astronaut though!

    • Photo: Michel Destrade

      Michel Destrade answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      You can’t? didn’t know about that!

    • Photo: Mark Kennedy

      Mark Kennedy answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      You should be alright to go to space if you’ve broken a bone, but given it time to heal (so if you broke a bone when you were 5, you would be ok to fly to space when you were 20 😉 )

      But if you break it just before you are meant to go to space, then you won’t be allowed because of what Roisin said – you would have a bone density problem, and the bone wouldn’t fix right.

      Also, you have to be careful when you’re moving in a weightless environment, so having all of your bones working is really important.

    • Photo: Karen

      Karen answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      As the lads said. I don’t know anything about it to be honest

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