[Role of age in +Gz and +Gx tolerance by female candidates to astronauts].

Analyzed was the role of age in the tolerance of +Gz (up to 5 units) and +Gx (up to 8 units) by female candidates to cosmonauts on the stage of initial centrifuge selection in the years of 1979 through to 1993. Selection was made of 26 healthy non-flying women aged 23 to 39 who were divided into 4 groups with 5-year intervals. Female tolerance of g-loads and shifts in a number of physiological parameters during centrifugation were discovered to be age-dependent. The poorest tolerance of +Gz and +Gx loads was typical of women below 25 years, the best, at the age of 31 to 40 years. It was stated that tolerance of these demanding g-loads by women, especially below 30, was generally worse compared with men. There were also some distinctions in the cardiovascular response in women and men. These results point to the significance of centrifugation in selection female candidates to cosmonauts irrespective of their age.