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The four crew members of Inspiration4, the first ever all-civilian space mission, got genetically younger during their stay in space, a study has found. But the effects didn't last long. Scientists are now trying to unravel how the space environment affects human DNA.

Inspiration4 crew members had a packed schedule during their three-day trip to space in September 2021. Instead of just floating around in weightlessness and enjoying the breathtaking views from their modified Crew Dragon Resilience space capsule, they lent their bodies to science.

Hayley Arceneaux, the mission's the chiefmedical officer and trained physician assistant, was busy during their time orbit taking fingerpick blood samples and skin swabs of herself and her crewmates. A battery of tests followed their return to Earth and continued for several months after that.

Results of these experiments have been published in three scientific papers in the journals Nature and Nature Communications on Tuesday, June 11. The tests showed that the space environment has fast-acting and profound effects on the human body, which can be detected in markers in blood after only a few hours in orbit.

NASA, JAXA and the European Space Agency have previously conducted similar experiments with astronauts during long-duration stays on the International Space Station, but the Inspiration4 mission provided scientists with an opportunity to study the earliest stages of these space-induced processes in the human body.

Related: Inspiration4: The first all-civilian spaceflight on SpaceX Dragon

"We are getting closer to the point where we can almost measure the dose of space on the body," Chris Mason, a professor of genomics, physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine and Scientific Advisory Board member at biotechnology company Seer whose Proteograph was used to analyze the data, told Space.com in an interview. "They were in space only for a few days, but we could already see early signatures of spaceflight exposure on the body including protein changes and gene expression changes."

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For example, the researchers observed that markers indicating the aging of DNA decreased in space, making the crewmembers' DNA appear younger and healthier. Those markers, known as telomeres, are caps that protect chromosomes that are known to shorten with age and due to environmental factors and stress.

For the Inspiration4 participants, however, the telomeres got longer during the space mission. Scientists previously observed telomere lengthening in NASA astronaut Scott Kelly when they studied the effects of his one-year stay in orbit in 2015 on his body. The findings were already surprising back then as the researchers expected the opposite to happen due to the high levels of stress the organism is subject to in space.

To see those effects in the Inspiration4 crew members after only a few days in space was even more unexpected, scientists say.

"We did see telomere elongation in all four of the crew members," Susan Bailey, a professor of radiation cancer biology and oncology at Colorado State University who led the research, said in a press conference presenting the papers on Monday, June 10. "It's really a remarkable finding in a number of ways and helps us solidify our findings."

The researchers think the telomere elongation is triggered as a protective response by exposure to the higher radiation environment of space. Similar effects have been measured in mountain climbers after they scaled the world's highest peaks.

"We think it's the DNA's equivalent to hormesis," Mason, lead author of two of the studies, said. "It's the effect that we see when you stress the body, for example in the gym, your muscles get sore, but the body responds by building strength."

There is, however, a catch, said Bailey. After the astronauts' return to Earth, the telomeres shrink almost immediately and get shorter than they were before the spaceflight. The researchers, Bailey said, don't understand what triggers the shortening but hope they might be able to control the response in the future.

"It takes a number of months for the telomeres to recover," Bailey said. "It's one of the things that doesn't quite get back to where you were when you started. We think that there is a real opportunity to think about long-term health outcomes for astronauts once they return to Earth and how we can better monitor and improve that outcome."

The shortening of the protective telomeres leads to DNA damage and makes individuals susceptible to a range of diseases including cancer, heart disease or immune system deficiency. Research, however, suggests that healthy diets and restorative practices such as meditation can help those chromosomal caps to recover.

Just like in astronauts in long duration mission, the bodies of Inspiration4 crew members showed other signs of aging during the spaceflight including increased markers for bone and muscle loss and brain stress. Those, however, returned to pre-flight levels within six months. Inspiration4 crew members Hayley Arceneaux and Chris Sembroski, who participated in the briefing didn't seem to regret the degradation their telomeres suffered due to their space trip.

"I was so happy to be able to contribute to science and I know that it was very important for all of our crew members," said Arceneaux.

Sembroski added: "It's really humbling and honoring to be a part of this study. I don't think any of our crew members really understood the full potential of what this mission was going to turn into, but it's been incredible to see the impacts that have come from it."

The study also found that the female crew members Arceneaux and geologist Sian Proctor recovered faster from the spaceflight with most of their health markers back at pre-flight levels faster than those of their male counterparts Sembroski and mission commander and benefactor Jared Isaacman. The results confirm observations in female NASA astronauts and suggest that female bodies may be better suited to endure the stresses of spaceflight.

The data will be part of an open-access astronaut biological data repository, the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA), which has also been published as part of the Nature package. The atlas contains data from long-duration space missions conducted by NASA, JAXA and ESA, and it's a first-of-a-kind resource allowing researchers to compare and study in detail the many biological, physiological and genetic changes that can occur in humans during spaceflight.

The researchers hope the database will enable them in the future to not only select people that are genetically best suited to endure the rigors of space travel, but also to devise strategies to improve the outcomes for those suited less.

"We want to use this data to predict how people will respond to space at a physiological and molecular level," said Mason. "Eventually, we would like to find ways to boost their response, target some of the changes with a drug and help them, so that we don't exclude anybody from going to space."

Mason, in fact, published a book in 2021 called "The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds," in which he makes a case for genetically engineering humans to make them better suited to explore and settle the solar system. He admits that the current state of knowledge is not sufficient to attempt any tempering with astronauts' genomes.

"We need probably another 20 years of data before I would even think we could have a good guess as to what to do," said Mason. "But this is the beginning of mapping out what changes to target, what to build new drugs around and what someday we can potentially do."

The research could also help medical scientists on Earth looking to find cures for genetic ailments that ruin lives of millions of children worldwide and for which there is currently no remedy.

The three studies in the journal Nature about these spaceflight-induced genetic changes crew can be found here, here and here.

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SpaceX's Inspiration4 astronauts got genetically younger in space: study - Space.com

Eight former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Wednesday alleging sexual harassment and retaliation.

Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, knowingly and purposefully created an unwelcome hostile work environment based upon his conduct of interjecting into the workplace vile sexual photographs, memes, and commentary that demeaned women and/or the LGBTQ+ community, says the employees complaint, which was earlier reported by Bloomberg.

The complaint which cites many of Musks Twitter posts making sexually explicit jokes claims that Musk fostered a perversely sexist culture at SpaceX. Several of the plaintiffs say they experienced direct harassment that mimicked Musks posts. According to the suit, senior engineers often used phallic language during technical meetings, referring to mechanical parts as chodes and schlongs.

Engineers allegedly used sexual jokes as product names

It was also common for engineers to apply crude and demeaning names to products in an attempt at humor, often at the expense of women and LGBTQ+ individuals. For example, the name Upskirt Camera was used for a camera on the first stage of the Falcon rocket that views the bottom of the second stage. The complaint also cites a video starring SpaceXs upper management, including Vice President of Human Resources (HR) Brian Bjelde, President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell, and Elon Musk that mocks and makes light of sexual misconduct and banter.

The former employees, who are also pursuing a National Labor Relations Board complaint against SpaceX, collaborated on an open letter in 2022 that raised concerns about Musks behavior and the broader company culture at SpaceX. The employees were subsequently fired and their lawsuit alleges the order to terminate them came from Musk himself. Per Bloomberg, after a human resources official suggested SpaceX conduct an investigation, Musk replied, I dont care, fire them.

After the letter was published, Shotwell emailed two of the letter writers telling them to stop flooding employees [sic] communications channels immediately, the complaint claims. Shotwell later sent a companywide email with the subject line Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, in which she called the Open Letter overreaching activism and stated that [w]e performed an investigation and have terminated a number of employees involved, according to the suit.

The complaint targets both Musk and SpaceX. Musk thinks hes above the law. Our eight brave clients stood up to him and were fired for doing so. We look forward to holding Musk accountable for his actions at trial, Laurie Burgess, an attorney representing the former engineers, said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a Wall Street Journal report that Musk had sexual relationships with two SpaceX employees, including a former intern he later hired onto his executive team. A third woman who spoke to the Journal said Musk asked her several times to have his children and complained about her work performance after she said no. The woman said she was also denied a raise.

Shotwell accused one of the women of having an affair with her husband, according to the Journal. After the woman reported this to HR, Shotwell reportedly told the HR department at SpaceX that she wanted the woman removed from the office of the chief executive, the Journals article says. In a statement to the Journal, Shotwell said the report paints a completely misleading narrative of SpaceXs company culture.

Some former SpaceX employees disagree. In 2021, after a former SpaceX employee published an essay detailing multiple instances in which she was groped by her male colleagues, five former employees claimed there was a culture of sexual harassment at the company. The employees said HR handled complaints poorly. In 2022, Business Insider reported that a flight attendant on Musks private jet claimed he exposed himself to her.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to The Verges request for comment.

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Fired SpaceX workers sue Elon Musk for sexual harassment and retaliation - The Verge

Elon Musk had a sexual relationship with a former SpaceX intern, who he later hired onto his executive team, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also had a sexual relationship with a second employee. And a third woman alleged that Musk asked her several times to have his children; she refused. He then denied her a raise and complained about her performance.

One of the women who Musk had a sexual relationship also drew the ire of SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who accused her of having an affair with Shotwells husband. When the woman reported this to HR, HR told Shotwell. Shotwell told the HR department at SpaceX that she wanted the woman removed from the office of the chief executive, The Wall Street Journal wrote.

The Journals article cites text messages, emails, and other documents. It is based on interviews with more than 48 people, including friends and family members of the women, as well as former employees.

Musk didnt reply to WSJs requests for comment. Shotwell said the WSJs request for comment paint[s] a completely misleading narrative of what working for SpaceX is like, and that the WSJ story doesnt reflect SpaceXs culture. She also said that SpaceX investigates all harassment complaints and responds appropriately.

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Elon Musk has unusual relationships with women at SpaceX, WSJ reports - The Verge

Update: Elon Musk and SpaceX face a new sexual harassment lawsuit over retaliation and pervasive sexism

Where did Cool Ranch Doritos come from?

Elon Musk has repeatedly approached female employees at SpaceX, a company he founded and leads, for sexual activities and to have his children, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing interviews with dozens of people as well as text messages and other documents, describes the experience of four female employees at SpaceX who were showed an unusual amount of attention or pursued by one of the worlds richest people. That includes a SpaceX flight attendant who alleges that Musk in 2016 exposed himself to her and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for sex, and a woman who left the aerospace company in 2013 and claims Musk asked her to have his babies. After that woman declined to have his children, Musk began complaining about her performance and denied a raise. She later secured an exit package valued at more than $1 million, the Journal reports.

Musk is a vocal proponent of having more children, routinely commenting on low birth rates and saying the end of civilization will be caused by a whimper, in adult diapers. He has 11 kids, including twins born through in vitro fertilization with Shivon Zilis, who leads his Neuralink startup.

A third woman met Musk as a SpaceX intern while in college, eventually going on a date with and having sex with Musk while working for the company, The Journal reports. In 2017, Musk contacted her to join his executive staff, before she left a few years later. According to the Journal, which received affidavits submitted by the womans lawyer, she denied having a romantic relationship with Musk and said she supported him through issues at Tesla and his divorce from actress Talulah Riley.

The untruths, mischaracterizations, and revisionist history in your email paint a completely misleading narrative, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell told The Journal. I continue to be amazed by what this extraordinary group of people are achieving every day even amidst all the forces acting against us. And Elon is one of the best humans I know.

Shotwell faces allegations of her own. In 2013, she accused an employee of having an affair with her husband, Robert Shotwell. After the employee went to human resources about the accusation, it got leaked back to Shotwell, who retaliated against the employee, The Journal reports.

[Shotwell] has 100% sabotaged my future at a company I love, and I am not safe in any position, she said in a September 2014 email to a friend. This position is killing me and it has [affected] my mental and now physical health.

As of that fall, the woman had started working for Musk directly, becoming close professionally and putting in 17-hour workdays, helping out at both Tesla and in his personal life. Their relationship became more intimate, with the Journal reporting at lest two occasions where they had sex:

They saw each other again at his house in mid-December 2014, after Musks children were put to bed, according to text messages the woman shared with a friend at the time.

Ill see you at 11 or so, the woman wrote in a text to Musk.

Ok 🙂 If you get tired or dont feel like it for any reason, no problem to cancel, he replied.

She said she didnt want to cancel. I might send a note to your house security only, to let them know Im coming to drop something off.or something. So theyre prepared?

In bed the next morning, Musk promised the woman Tesla stock for unpaid work shed done for him at the carmaker and in his personal life, she told a person close to her.

Musk told the woman that if the relationship ever became public, theyd have to say it started after she left the company, the woman later told that person and another friend.

Musk later declined to pay the woman in Tesla stock, later paying her $85,000 in cash that required her to release him from legal claims known and unknown.

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Elon Musk repeatedly approached women at SpaceX for sex: report - Quartz

Back in 2022, Business Insider reported that Elon Musk had secretly fathered twins with Shivon Zilis, a top executive at one of his companies. Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far, he tweeted at the time. Mark my words, they are sadly true. An obsession with procreating aside, the news was fairly surprising at the timenot only because it brought Musks offspring headcount to near-double digits but because Zilis was one of his own employees, which is generally considered a no-no in the modern-day workplace. Yet, as it turns out, Zilis wasnt even the first employee Musk proposed reproducing with.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, in a long story about Musks boundary-blurring relationships with women at SpaceX, that in 2013, a woman who directly reported to the billionaire alleged that Musk had asked her on multiple occasions to have his babies, according to people familiar with the allegations. In contrast to Zilis, who took Musk up on his proposal after he reportedly offered his sperm to her, the other woman declined, and apparently had to do so more than once. After this, according to the Journal, she continued to work for SpaceX but the relationship with Musk deteriorated. In addition to the baby business, people familiar with the matter also told the Journal that Musk denied the woman a raise and complained about her performance. She later left the company with a cash and stock exit package worth more than $1 million, according to the report.

Allegedly asking someone in his employ to bear his children is not the only bit of inappropriateness the Journal alleged in its story. There was also this:

WhenElon Muskpersonally contacted a former SpaceX engineering intern to discuss a role on his executive staff in 2017, the woman spoke with excitement to her friends about a high-profile problem-solving role at the rocket company, a dream for someone a few years out of college. She and Musk had met years earlier during her internship, when she was still in college. Shed approached him with ideas for improving SpaceX. Her outreach had led to a date, which led to a kiss, and eventually sex, she told friends. The year after her internship, the billionaire had the fresh college graduate flown out to a resort in Sicily, before they ended things, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Musk, who is more than 20 years her senior, attempted to restart their relationship but she rejected his advance. They remained close as she tried to establish herself in the new job.He texted her often and invited her to come over to his Los Angeles mansion at night on multiple occasions. Sometimes she accepted his invitations, but friends said she told them at the time that his behavior made her job harder. She eventually moved off Musks executive team, according to friends she told and to people familiar with her time at SpaceX. The woman left the company in 2019.

In affidavits signed by the woman and provided to the Journal by her lawyerswho also happen to represent Muskthe woman claimed that there was no romantic relationship with the SpaceX CEO while she was employed from 2017 to 2019, though she confirmed theyd had a romantic relationship in the past.

In 2022, Business Insider reported that Musk allegedly exposed himself to a SpaceX flight attendant and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for sex acts. She reportedly said no, and the company allegedly reduced her shifts. According to Insider, SpaceX eventually agreed to paid the woman $250,000. Musk called the claims utterly untrue and proposed the scandal be dubbed Elongate.

In an equally bizarre anecdote, the Journal also reported this week that a SpaceX employee who worked for both Musk and Gwynne Shotwell, the companys president, was accused by Shotwell of having an affair with the execs husband after helping plan a surprise birthday party for her. Afterwards, Shotwell reportedly tried to push the woman outand then Musk initiated a sexual relationship with the woman, who by that time was working directly for him alone, the woman reportedly told people close to her.

Read more:

Elon Musk Reportedly Asked a SpaceX Employee, on Multiple Occasions, to Have His Babies - Vanity Fair