Safe Passage: Astronaut Care for Exploration Missions sets forth a vision for space medicine as it applies to deep space voyage. As space missions increase in duration from months to years and extend well beyond Earth's orbit, so will the attendant risks of working in these extreme and isolated environmental conditions. Hazards to astronaut health range from greater radiation exposure and loss of bone and muscle density to intensified psychological stress from living with others in a confined space. Going beyond the body of biomedical research, the report examines existing space medicine clinical and behavioral research and health care data and the policies attendant to them. It describes why not enough is known today about the dangers of prolonged travel to enable humans to venture into deep space in a safe and sane manner. The report makes a number of recommendations concerning NASA's structure for clinical and behavioral research, on the need for a comprehensive astronaut health care system and on an approach to communicating health and safety risks to astronauts, their families, and the public.
More than four decades have passed since a human first set foot on the Moon. Great strides have been made in our understanding of what is required to support an enduring human presence in space, as evidenced by progressively more advanced orbiting human outposts, culminating in the current International Space Station (ISS). However, of the more than 500 humans who have so far ventured into space, most have gone only as far as near-Earth orbit, and none have traveled beyond the orbit of the Moon. Achieving humans' further progress into the solar system had proved far more difficult than imagined in the heady days of the Apollo missions, but the potential rewards remain substantial. During its more than 50-year history, NASA's success in human space exploration has depended on the agency's ability to effectively address a wide range of biomedical, engineering, physical science, and related obstacles-an achievement made possible by NASA's strong and productive commitments to life and physical sciences research for human space exploration, and by its use of human space exploration infrastructures for scientific discovery. The Committee for the Decadal Survey of Biological and Physical Sciences acknowledges the many achievements of NASA, which are all the more remarkable given budgetary challenges and changing directions within the agency. In the past decade, however, a consequence of those challenges has been a life and physical sciences research program that was dramatically reduced in both scale and scope, with the result that the agency is poorly positioned to take full advantage of the scientific opportunities offered by the now fully equipped and staffed ISS laboratory, or to effectively pursue the scientific research needed to support the development of advanced human exploration capabilities. Although its review has left it deeply concerned about the current state of NASA's life and physical sciences research, the Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space is nevertheless convinced that a focused science and engineering program can achieve successes that will bring the space community, the U.S. public, and policymakers to an understanding that we are ready for the next significant phase of human space exploration. The goal of this report is to lay out steps and develop a forward-looking portfolio of research that will provide the basis for recapturing the excitement and value of human spaceflight-thereby enabling the U.S. space program to deliver on new exploration initiatives that serve the nation, excite the public, and place the United States again at the forefront of space exploration for the global good.
This comprehensive encyclopedia serves the needs of biomedical researchers, space mission planners and engineers, aerospace medicine physicians, graduate students, and professors interested in obtaining an up-to-date and readable introduction to bioastronautics, the science of humans in space. Following the excitement and progress of the birth of the space age in the fifties and sixties, with the successes in human space flight – culminating with the Moon landings – the field of bioastronautics retreated into the more workmanlike arena of successively longer stays in low Earth orbit. At this time, major new initiatives are ahead both in human and robotic space exploration. The International Space Station, along with the developing Chinese space station and lunar program, will permit the development and testing of the means of astronaut protection for long duration missions – eventually to Mars and its moons, as well as visits to asteroids, other NEOs, and the Lagrange points. New life support systems and innovative approaches to radiation protection beyond Earth’s magnetic field will all be developed and tested. Meanwhile, the search for extraterrestrial life, past or even present, is accelerating – with the spectacular finds of Martian water and the discovery of potentially habitable extra-solar planets. A new generation of scientists is ready to attack a new set of problems, and is in need of an efficient, accurate and searchable means of discovering the essentials of the field. This reference work also covers the challenges, past achievements, and potential solutions inherent to the safe exploration of distant space and the search for life off our planet. The entries summarize the tertiary literature and include sufficient data and illustrations to introduce each topic, while avoiding the length and detail of scientific review articles.
This readable text presents findings from the life science experiments conducted during and after space missions. It provides an insight into the space medical community and the real challenges that face the flight surgeon and life science investigator.
The purpose of this book is to share collective experience on human spaceflight operations. For the many authors, this is nothing less than a work of passion. They are sharing their life's work with the goal of passing on their experience to the next generation of space engineers, designers, operators, and crew.
Space station sessions at SAE conferences have emphasized certain spacecraft subsystems over others: environmental control and life support, and thermal control, as well as attitude control, human factors, extravehicular activity, and crew health and safety. This volume reflects the relative emphasis given to each of those areas at SAE conferences in recent years. Contents: Attitude Control - Control Structure Interaction of Multi-Flexible-Body Space Station and RCS Attitude Control Dynamics of Shuttle Berthing to Space Station Freedom Control and Sensitivity Analysis for the Solar Array Pointing System of the Space Station Freedom Avoiding On-Orbit Control/Structure Interaction Problems with Space Station Freedom Crew Health and Safety - Space Station Freedom Assured Crew Return Vehicle Medical Issues Space Station Radiation Dosimetry and Health Risk Assessment Crew Health Care Systems Installations for Space Station Freedom 1993 Update Space Station Freedom Deployable Medical Equipment Design and Development.Environmental Control and Life Support - A Review of Space Station ECLSS/ITCS Automation Numerical Prediction and Evaluation of Space Station Intermodule Ventilation and Air Distribution Performance A Description and Assessment of Intermodule Ventilation as Planned for International Space Station Alpha Space Station ECLSS Major Constituent Analyzer Development Unit Test Results Modeling and Test Data Analysis of The Life Support System Integration Facility Oxygen Generation Subsystem A Description and Comparison of U.S. and Russian Urine Processing Hardware for the International Space Station Systems for Water Reclamation from Humidity Condensate and Urine for Space Station Phase III Integrated Water Recovery Testing at MSFC: International Space Station Configuration Test Results and Lessons Learned Operational Data on the Gas Composition Support Aids (GCSA) for the Habitable Pressurized Volumes of MIR Space Station Mated Air Interchange System Performance Model for Space Shuttle/MIR-Station/Spacelab Docking Mission.Shuttle/MIR-Station/Spacelab Docking Mission - Development of the Fire Detection System for Space Station Freedom Post-Fire Cleanup on the Space Station Columbus APM Environmental Control System Overview: Space Station and APM Restructuring Consequences Impact of Carbon Dioxide Concentration on Plant and Animal Life Sciences Research on Space Station Freedom First Entry Operations for Spacecraft Space Station Freedom Airlock: The Integration of IVA and EVA Capabilities in an Orbital Element.Extravehicular Activity - Preparing EMU for Space Station Hyperbaric Environmental Control Assembly for the Space Station Freedom Airlock Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris Hazard Considerations for Space Station-Related EVA Some Results on Modification of the EVA Suit for the MIR Orbiting Station Human Factors - Use of Free Time During Long-Duration Space Missions The Psychological Effects of Isolation on a Space Station: A Simulation Study Development and Testing of Intra-Vehicular Restraints and Mobility Aids for the Space Station Freedom Assessing Integrated Human-Machine Interface Design of Space Station Freedom Standard Interface Rack Hardware for Space Station International Space Station Alpha Node, Cupola and Pressurized Mating Adapter Outfitting The Provision of Interim Sleep Quarters for Space Station Crews.Thermal Control - International Space Station Alpha Thermal Control Design Changes and Decision Rationale Computer Control of an External Active Thermal Control System for the International Space Station Space Station Heat Rejection Subsystem Radiator Assembly Design and Development Design and Performance of Space Station Photovoltaic Radiators International Space Station Alpha Design-To-Freeze Radiators A Technical Overview of the Passive Thermal Control System for the Space Station Freedom Effective Emittance Measurements on Multi-Lay
