title: Space flight calcium: implications for astronaut health, spacecraft operations, and Earth.
abstract: The space flight environment is known to induce bone loss and, subsequently, calcium loss. The longer the mission, generally the more bone and calcium are lost. This review provides a history of bone and calcium studies related to space flight and highlights issues related to calcium excretion that the space program must consider so that urine can be recycled. It also discusses a novel technique using natural stable isotopes of calcium that will be helpful in the future to determine calcium and bone balance during space flight.
authors.affiliation: Human Health and Performance Directorate, NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA. scott.m.smith@nasa.gov
authors.forename: Scott M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Torin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McCoy
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gazda
authors.forename: Jennifer L L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heer
authors.forename: Sara R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Zwart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018480:Astronauts; D015519:Bone Density; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000378:metabolism*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D003649:Decalcification, Pathologic / Q000209:etiology*; D018534:Earth, Planet; D006801:Humans; D013026:Space Flight; D018531:Spacecraft; D014893:Weightlessness / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium