Astronauts take Waterloo research into orbit

From the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts are helping Waterloo researchers understand some of the mysteries of aging.

Two experiments based at the University of Waterloo soared into space with astronaut Chris Hadfield, who became the first Canadian commander of the ISS during his five-month mission in 2013.

Hadfield and other astronauts from around the world have been working with Waterloo’s Richard Hughson, a professor of kinesiology in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, as he examines how extended time in zero gravity affects the circulatory system. Weightlessness speeds up changes that people normally experience as they age. So far, the research underscores the importance of exercise.

“The biggest thing we’ve learned is you can’t maintain a sedentary lifestyle,’’ says Hughson, the Schlegel Research Chair in Vascular Aging and Brain Health. “You have to introduce physical activity.”

Orbiting Earth for five months aboard the ISS, Hadfield, 53, was a research subject for two experiments led by Hughson: VASCULAR and BP-Reg.

VASCULAR focuses on the carotid artery. As it loses elasticity with age, the vessel loses its ability to dissipate pressure from blood surging out of the heart. This strains delicate blood vessels in the brain.

The experiment, ongoing since 2009, studies the function of astronauts’ carotid and other arteries before, during and after their missions, and relates this to blood samples collected in space.