Posted on 12/22/2004 12:23:55 PM PST by tbird5
IF SPACE scientists had known better at the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969, the mission’s defining legacy might have read "one small step for a woman, one giant leap for womankind".
New medical research has revealed that the mental and physical characteristics of women mean they are far better suited to long-term space travel than men. As a result, one medical expert has now claimed there is a very strong case for an all-female cosmonaut crew on the first mission to put humans on Mars.
William Rowe, a professor of medicine at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, in the United States, said: "A manned trip to the Red Planet should, in fact, be womanned."
Prof Rowe has published new research in the journal Mens Health and Gender, which focused on the hormonal and physical make-up of women under 30 years of age, and concludes that they are far better suited to long-term, long-distance travel than men.
In particular, men in their thirties and forties are much more likely to develop the first signs of heart disease, a condition exacerbated by space travel. Women are protected from this by their comparatively high levels of oestrogen.
Drug treatments during space flight are not recommended because they are not readily absorbed in weightless conditions, the liver and the kidneys do not function at their best and the drug compounds deteriorate more quickly owing to the higher levels of radiation experienced in space.
(Excerpt) Read more at thescotsman.scotsman.com ...
They plug the commode more quickly?
That's understandable, they are already way out there.
I vote Hillary Clinton the first woman to be sent to Mars!
And left there.
Too close. Let's put Jupiter between us and her.
Shannon Lucid bump.
I think it would be quicker and cheaper to just send her to Mars, and then put TED KENNEDY in orbit between us and her.
Same effect, big ball of gas separating Hitlery and Earth.
I have no desire to spend weeks/months/years inside a refrigerator.
Have at it, girls.
Well I will just volunteer to be the only guy up there with all women. I know it's a tough row to hoe, what with heart disease and all. But it's the least I can do for my fellow man.
John Glenn called women astronauts "90 pounds of recreational equipment"
Most space travellers will be robots. They probably won't last as long and be as reliable as human astronauts, but they will be cheaper and won't have to return to earth to cash the paycheck.
1. somebody needs to clean the capsule
2. they would love the lack of "gravity"
3. most are used to living in "space" already
The problem with send a woman to the moon is that she'd insist on stopping and asking for directions.
Interesting!!!!
I don't know about that approach being cheaper. It'll take a lot of thrust to get something that big into orbit. We could be looking at a SkyLab situation there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.