![]() ![]() How can studying astronauts’ health in space help people back on Earth?Īstronauts get back pain in space. But to do it in the context of space, for me as a kid growing up watching Star Trek and Star Wars, it’s just really freaking cool. The opportunity to apply what I'm interested in and love in medicine, develop my skills, and solve very hard problems is exciting. Astronauts by and large are great folks to work with. All of the NASA flight surgeons can make a lot more money in practice outside of NASA, but it's the love of the game that keeps us there. The team work is the most exciting thing. What do you find most exciting about being a flight surgeon? We've flown astronauts who had meniscal tears in their knees, and their pain usually gets better in space, but eventually astronauts have to have that fixed when they come back. ![]() Although oftentimes astronauts who have knee, hip, or back pain on Earth say, “actually, my bum knee feels better in space.” There’s no gravity exerting force on the weight bearing joints. Older astronauts who go into space with some osteoarthritis or low back issues might get a few minor sprains or strains in the knee, the hip, or the low back from exercise. It's not uncommon to get a foreign body in the eye because dust and debris are floating around. They can be constipated for not drinking enough. It's only about a 36-42% relative humidity environment on the ISS, so dry skin and dry nasal membranes are common. ![]() What are some of the common health problems astronauts encounter in space? A lot of times it's things like them not sleeping well. But because those are extremely rare events, usually we’ll cover anything that comes up medically in the weekly conference. But let's say they woke up and had severe abdominal pain or a serious injury, they can tell the flight director in mission control that they need to schedule an unscheduled private medical conference, and then we'll talk to the crew right away. If it's anything out of the ordinary, they can either call their flight surgeon on the satellite phone, or they can email us and say something like, “Hey Doc, I got this rash.” Once a week we have a real-time private medical conference with live two-way audio and high-definition video. If an astronaut gets sick while in space, what do they do? Then we follow them with different medical tests for about six months, so it's a pretty long time that we actually work closely with each individual astronaut. That’s when they're doing their most intensive reconditioning and re-adaptation to coming back to Earth. When they get back from space, we're with them pretty much every moment except for sleeping for the first 30 days after they return. We support the astronaut and their family through the pre-flight phase and into the inflight phase. He launched in April, and he's probably going to be up there for a year. I am the deputy crew surgeon for Mark Vande Hei who is on the International Space Station right now. Are you assigned to a particular mission or astronaut?Įach US astronaut is assigned two flight surgeons, and the flight surgeons start working with that astronaut about one to two years out from their mission. Because everything in space is based on mass, power, volume, time, and money, if I've got to prepare an ICU versus a little medical kit, we’re probably never going to get the mission to space. ![]() If I have to prepare to treat heart attacks or strokes, that dramatically alters our ability to accomplish the overall mission. If someone wants to be an astronaut, they’re basically going to have to be perfectly healthy with no risks for disease. When astronauts go to space, we have a very limited ability to diagnose and treat medical events. How is treating humans in space different than on Earth? So, flight surgeons have to become relative experts in radiation, in the effects of pressures and gases, and in all these other things that go on in a space environment that a normal doctor wouldn't be aware of. Other systems such as immune, bone, and muscle seem to take longer to adapt and require specific countermeasures like exercise. Most systems such as the cardiovascular and the neurovestibular systems adapt to that novel environment pretty quickly. In space, there's no gravity, so the body has to adapt. The NASA flight surgeon is a specialist in aerospace medicine. With the nearest emergency room located approximately 220 miles away, Scheuring and other flight surgeons help astronauts stay safe and healthy in space. Along with NASA engineers, Scheuring helps reduce potential health risks astronauts face in space, from equipment on board to infectious diseases. In space, where there is no gravity, and astronauts float from one end of the International Space Station (ISS) to the next, even a sharp corner can be dangerous. ![]()
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