pagesofhistory Apollo Aftermath
Recent research from Florida State University suggests deep space radiation could have caused cardiovascular health problems — leading to heart disease and death — in Apollo astronauts.
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hen naval aviator and Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon’s surface
July 20, 1969, it marked one of humanity’s greatest achievements. But according to a recent study in Scientific Reports, that mis- sion — and those that followed — also might have exposed Apollo crews to heart-damag- ing deep space radiation. Researchers at Florida State University
(FSU) in Tallahassee, Fla., found the oc- currence of death from heart disease was five times greater among Apollo lunar astronauts than astronauts who never flew in space and four times greater when compared to astronauts who only flew in low Earth orbit. Scientists believe deep space radiation is the culprit, since the Apollo lunar astronauts were the only humans ever to fly outside the Earth’s protective geomagnetic field. Of the 24 astronauts who flew around the moon between 1968 and 1972, eight have died. Seven were included in the FSU study, which found that 43 percent died from cardiovascular disease — Armstrong among them. Other causes of death among Apollo astronauts include cancer and various accidents. NASA didn’t necessarily agree with the
journal report. In a statement, the agency noted, “It is not possible to determine whether cosmic ray radiation affected the Apollo astronauts. Limitations of the study include the small number of astro- nauts in the Apollo program and lifestyle
PHOTO: NASA
factors that cannot be quantified — such as family genetics and diet.”
Dog Tags Returned rmy Air Forces radar specialist Bennie Howard Jr. lost his dog tags on a beach near Florence, Italy, at
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the height of World War II. More than 70 years later, dur- ing a special July 4 ceremony, the tags were returned to Howard by the man who found them. Jury Galli, of Pisa,
Italy, was scour- ing the beach with a metal detector when he found the tags buried in the sand. The tags noted Wendell, N.C., as Howard’s hometown, so Galli reached out via Facebook and spoke to Wendell town planner Patrick Reidy, who was able to locate Howard, 92 at the time. Galli traveled to Wendell at his own
expense to return Howard’s dog tags in person. He told the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., he wanted to thank Howard personally for “endangering his life to lib- erate Italy in World War II.”
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— Don Vaughan, a North Carolina-based free- lance writer, authors this monthly column.
NOVEMBER 2016 MILITARY OFFICER 79
History Lesson On Nov. 28, 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met in Tehran, Iran, to plan a strategy to defeat Nazi Germany.
Apollo 11 was the first NASA mission to land humans on the moon and includ- ed (from left) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr.
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