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Discuss “CMU Students Ride Vomit Comet Over Spring Break”

Although plenty of students probably experienced feelings of dizziness and vomiting over their spring break, it?s doubtful that they were studying astrobiology 30,000 feet above the ground at the time.

After spending months in space, astronauts return to earth with reduced bone mass, atrophied muscles, and decreased immune responses. To help understand why, four Carnegie Mellon students ran an experiment on NASA?s ?Vomit Comet? at Johnson Space Center in Houston on March 11 and 12. The ?Comet? is a KC-135A aircraft that dives from 30,000 to 3000 feet, exposing its occupants to forces of zero Gs at its highest point and two Gs at its lowest. One ?G? is about the amount of gravity you?re experiencing right now.

James Torchia and Candi Spier,...

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