Space travel is something that we have been hearing about a lot in recent months, it has been more than sixty years since Russia became the first country to send man into space and fifty years have passed since man landed on the moon, the question is what does it take for the human being to survive in space.

Here are some of the effects of being in space with a spacesuit:

Research has shown that being in space weakens the bones and muscle structure of the body, making it difficult to carry things and having difficulty moving freely.

Gravity plays a major role while you are in space, the heart finds it difficult to pump blood at the normal rate, your blood pressure decreases and there is a change in the shape and size of the heart.

Studies have shown that when you are in space, your bones become brittle and you can suffer from bone loss, this is caused because the gravity needed to keep your bones healthy are absent in space.

When you are in space, your immunity system takes a hit because we are in unfamiliar surroundings, this makes us feel tense, isolated and finding it difficult to adjust to something that we are doing for the first time.

There are many books and movies that are made on being in space, these are works of fiction that show a future where people live in space just as they would on Earth.

In reality, space can be described as a vacuum, a person trying to be in space without a spacesuit has no chance of survival in space for any length of time, we need an atmosphere that has oxygen to breathe, we need to survive extreme change in temperature, even if you are wearing a spacesuit it can protect you for limited amount of time.

Studies have shown that holding your breath does not make a difference while you are in space, all it does is allow you to survive for a few seconds before you die.

The human body is made up of water, when you are in space, you can feel your skin getting swollen because of the lack of pressure from the environment. 

Unlike what is shown in the movies, where we see people exploding, despite the hostile conditions, the human skin does not burst suddenly like a hot air balloon.

Being in space can put you in a state of shock and numbness, where it has an effect on your the flow of blood through your body and keep a check on the blood pressure.

Despite the extreme temperatures while you are in space, you would not immediately run out of breath or get sick because the loss of body heat is slowed down.

In the event of death, with or without a spacesuit, the dead body would be found floating in space for many years to come.

Being in space is a challenge and although we hear a lot about space travel, there is a lot more to be done, if we want to survive in space.