The NASA Twins Study: A multidimensional analysis of a year-long human spaceflight

Francine E. Garrett-Bakelman(Cornell University), Manjula Darshi(The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center), Stefan J. Green(University of Illinois Chicago), Ruben C. Gur(University of Pennsylvania), Ling Lin(Palo Alto University), Brandon R. Macias(Wyle (United States)), Miles J. McKenna(Colorado State University), Cem Meydan(Cornell University), Tejaswini Mishra(Palo Alto University), Jad Nasrini(University of Pennsylvania), Brian Piening(Palo Alto University), Lindsay F. Rizzardi(Johns Hopkins University), Kumar Sharma(The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center), Jamila H. Siamwala(University of California San Diego), Lynn Taylor(Colorado State University), Martha Hotz Vitaterna(Northwestern University), Maryam Afkarian(University of California, Davis), Ebrahim Afshinnekoo(Cornell University), Sara Ahadi(Palo Alto University), Aditya Ambati(Palo Alto University), Maneesh Arya(Wyle (United States)), Daniela Bezdan(Cornell University), Colin M. Callahan(Johns Hopkins University), Songjie Chen(Palo Alto University), Augustine M.K. Choi(Cornell University), George E. Chlipala(University of Illinois Chicago), Kévin Contrepois(Palo Alto University), Marisa D. Covington(National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Brian Crucian(National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Immaculata De Vivo(Harvard University), David F. Dinges(University of Pennsylvania), Douglas Ebert(Wyle (United States)), Jason I. Feinberg(Johns Hopkins University), Jorge Gandara(Cornell University), K. George(Wyle (United States)), John Goutsias(Johns Hopkins University), George S. Grills(Cornell University), Alan R. Hargens(University of California San Diego), Martina Heer(University of Bonn), Ryan P. Hillary(Palo Alto University), Andrew N. Hoofnagle(University of Washington), Vivian Hook(University of California San Diego), Garrett Jenkinson(Johns Hopkins University), Peng Jiang(Northwestern University), Ali Keshavarzian(Rush University Medical Center), Steven S. Laurie(Wyle (United States)), Brittany Lee‐McMullen(Palo Alto University), Sarah B. Lumpkins(MEI Technologies (United States)), Matthew MacKay(Cornell University), Mark Maienschein‐Cline(University of Illinois Chicago), Ari Melnick(Cornell University), Tyler M. Moore(University of Pennsylvania), Kiichi Nakahira(Cornell University), Hemal H. Patel(University of California San Diego), Robert A. Pietrzyk(Wyle (United States)), Varsha Rao(Palo Alto University), Rintaro Saito(University of California San Diego), Denis Salins(Palo Alto University), Jan M. Schilling(University of California San Diego), Dorothy D. Sears(University of California San Diego), Caroline Sheridan(Cornell University), Michael B. Stenger(National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Rakel Tryggvadóttir(Johns Hopkins University), Alexander E. Urban(Palo Alto University), Tomáš Vaisar(University of Washington), Benjamin Van Espen(University of California San Diego), Jing Zhang(Palo Alto University), Michael G. Ziegler(University of California San Diego), Sara R. Zwart(The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston), John B. Charles(National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Craig E. Kundrot(International Space Station), Graham Scott(National Space Biomedical Research Institute), Susan M. Bailey(Colorado State University), Mathias Basner(University of Pennsylvania), Andrew P. Feinberg(Johns Hopkins University), Stuart M. C. Lee(Wyle (United States)), Christopher E. Mason(Cornell University), Emmanuel Mignot(Palo Alto University), Brinda K. Rana(University of California San Diego), Scott M. Smith(National Aeronautics and Space Administration), M Snyder(Palo Alto University), Fred W. Turek(Northwestern University)
Science
April 12, 2019
10.1126/science.aau8650
Cited by 1,105Open Access
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Abstract

To understand the health impact of long-duration spaceflight, one identical twin astronaut was monitored before, during, and after a 1-year mission onboard the International Space Station; his twin served as a genetically matched ground control. Longitudinal assessments identified spaceflight-specific changes, including decreased body mass, telomere elongation, genome instability, carotid artery distension and increased intima-media thickness, altered ocular structure, transcriptional and metabolic changes, DNA methylation changes in immune and oxidative stress-related pathways, gastrointestinal microbiota alterations, and some cognitive decline postflight. Although average telomere length, global gene expression, and microbiome changes returned to near preflight levels within 6 months after return to Earth, increased numbers of short telomeres were observed and expression of some genes was still disrupted. These multiomic, molecular, physiological, and behavioral datasets provide a valuable roadmap of the putative health risks for future human spaceflight.

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