Medicine: Heart Trouble in Space?

To help protect their health during their extraterrestrial explorations, U.S. astronauts routinely go on special diets prior to launch. The Apollo 16 crew that landed on the moon last week has been on an even more highly specialized diet than usual. For three days before blastoff, the trio ate foods laced with potassium, and even the eggs in their farewell omelets came from hens raised on high-potassium feeds. Their in-flight food was similarly seasoned. The astronauts are not complaining; Ken Mattingly told Mission Control that the potassium even added a certain zest to...

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