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Related Concept Videos

Actuarial Approach01:20

Actuarial Approach

The actuarial approach, a statistical method originally developed for life insurance risk assessment, is widely used to calculate survival rates in clinical and population studies. This method accounts for participants lost to follow-up or those who die from causes unrelated to the study, ensuring a more accurate representation of survival probabilities.
Consider the example of a high-risk surgical procedure with significant early-stage mortality. A two-year clinical study is conducted,...
Life Tables01:22

Life Tables

A life table is a statistical tool that summarizes the mortality and survival patterns of a population, providing detailed insights into the likelihood of survival or death across different age intervals within a cohort. By organizing data on survival probabilities and mortality rates, life tables offer a clear snapshot of population dynamics over time. They are extensively used in demography, public health, actuarial science, and ecology to analyze life expectancy, design health interventions,...
Weightlessness01:01

Weightlessness

When an object is dropped, it accelerates toward the center of the Earth. If the net external force on the object is its weight, it is said to be in free fall; that is, the only force acting on the object is gravity. Galileo was instrumental in showing that, in the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with the same acceleration g. However, when objects on the Earth fall downward, they are never truly in free fall, because there is always some upward resistance force from the air acting...
Biological Effects of Radiation02:59

Biological Effects of Radiation

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Free-falling Bodies: Example01:05

Free-falling Bodies: Example

An object falling without any air resistance under the influence of gravitational force is said to be in free-fall. For free-falling bodies, the acceleration due to gravity is constant, irrespective of their mass. Free-fall is experienced not only by objects falling downward, but also by all objects whose motion is influenced by gravitational force alone. The dynamics of free-fall motion can be calculated using kinematic equations of motion, since free-fall acceleration is constant.
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Principle of Equivalence01:18

Principle of Equivalence

According to Albert Einstein (1897-1955), free-falling and feeling weightless are intrinsically linked. If a person were in free-fall under gravity, for example, diving towards the Earth from an airplane, they would feel completely weightless. Similarly, a person descending in a lift may feel partially weightless. Broadly speaking, it is assumed that an object in a uniform gravitational field and an object undergoing constant acceleration in the absence of gravity are under the same...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 7, 2026

Exploring the Effects of Spaceflight on Mouse Physiology using the Open Access NASA GeneLab Platform
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Published on: January 13, 2019

Mortality among U.S. astronauts: 1980-2009.

Robert J Reynolds1, Steven M Day

  • 1Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA. robert.j.reynolds@uth.tmc.edu

Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine
|November 4, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Astronaut mortality has decreased, with fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and accidents. While overall mortality risk is lower than the general population, astronauts still face a higher risk of accidental death.

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Published on: October 27, 2020

Area of Science:

  • Space medicine
  • Public health
  • Mortality statistics

Background:

  • Astronaut mortality analysis is nearly 20 years old.
  • This study examines astronaut mortality patterns from 1980 to 2009.
  • It compares astronaut deaths to general population mortality rates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze changes in astronaut mortality patterns over time.
  • To calculate Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMR) for astronauts.
  • To compare astronaut mortality to general population rates.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized astronaut vital data from NASA's Johnson Space Center.
  • Obtained general population mortality rates from the Human Mortality Database and CDC.
  • Calculated SMR using indirect standardization against comparison populations.

Main Results:

  • All astronaut SMRs declined between the 1980s and 2000s.
  • Astronauts show reduced risk for cardiovascular disease (SMR=27) and cancer (SMR=47).
  • Astronauts have a significantly increased risk of accidental death (SMR=574) but decreased all-cause mortality.

Conclusions:

  • Mortality from circulatory disease, cancer, and accidents has declined among astronauts.
  • Intensive health screening and fitness likely improve circulatory and cancer outcomes.
  • Reduced fatal accidents, due to fewer airplane crashes, contribute to lower overall mortality risk.