Astronauts experience time travel, sort of
Astronauts in orbit age imperceptibly slower due to time dilation, a real-world effect of Einstein's relativity that could impact future space travel.
Astronauts orbiting Earth actually age slightly slower than people on the ground, a phenomenon called time dilation. Einstein's theory of relativity explains that time passes differently for objects moving at high speeds. While the International Space Station zips around at 28,000 kilometers per hour, this speed causes their clocks to tick just a tiny bit slower. Over a year, an astronaut ages about 0.005 seconds less than someone on Earth, a subtle but real effect confirmed by atomic clocks. This mind-bending concept has big implications for future deep-space missions, where higher speeds could make the effect much more noticeable.