scholarly journals The NASA Twins Study: A multidimensional analysis of a year-long human spaceflight

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 364 (6436) ◽  
pp. eaau8650
Author(s):  
Francine E. Garrett-Bakelman ◽  
Manjula Darshi ◽  
Stefan J. Green ◽  
Ruben C. Gur ◽  
Ling Lin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Instability ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Intima Media Thickness ◽  
Global Gene Expression ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Multidimensional Analysis ◽  
Gastrointestinal Microbiota ◽  
Human Spaceflight ◽  
Ocular Structure ◽  
Long Duration

To understand the health impact of long-duration spaceflight, one identical twin astronaut was monitored before, during, and after a 1-year mission onboard the International Space Station; his twin served as a genetically matched ground control. Longitudinal assessments identified spaceflight-specific changes, including decreased body mass, telomere elongation, genome instability, carotid artery distension and increased intima-media thickness, altered ocular structure, transcriptional and metabolic changes, DNA methylation changes in immune and oxidative stress–related pathways, gastrointestinal microbiota alterations, and some cognitive decline postflight. Although average telomere length, global gene expression, and microbiome changes returned to near preflight levels within 6 months after return to Earth, increased numbers of short telomeres were observed and expression of some genes was still disrupted. These multiomic, molecular, physiological, and behavioral datasets provide a valuable roadmap of the putative health risks for future human spaceflight.

scholarly journals Designing Procedure Execution Tools with Emerging Technologies for Future Astronauts

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1607
Author(s):  
John A. Karasinski ◽  
Isabel C. Torron Valverde ◽  
Holly L. Brosnahan ◽  
Jack W. Gale ◽  
Ron Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Human Spaceflight ◽  
Control Center ◽  
New Era ◽  
Ground Support ◽  
Long Duration

NASA’s human spaceflight efforts are moving towards long-duration exploration missions requiring asynchronous communication between onboard crew and an increasingly remote ground support. In current missions aboard the International Space Station, there is a near real-time communication loop between Mission Control Center and astronauts. This communication is essential today to support operations, maintenance, and science requirements onboard, without which many tasks would no longer be feasible. As NASA takes the next leap into a new era of human space exploration, new methods and tools compensating for the lack of continuous, real-time communication must be explored. The Human-Computer Interaction Group at NASA Ames Research Center has been investigating emerging technologies and their applicability to increase crew autonomy in missions beyond low Earth orbit. Interactions using augmented reality and the Internet of Things have been researched as possibilities to facilitate usability within procedure execution operations. This paper outlines four research efforts that included technology demonstrations and usability studies with prototype procedure tools implementing emerging technologies. The studies address habitat feedback integration, analogous procedure testing, task completion management, and crew training. Through these technology demonstrations and usability studies, we find that low- to medium-fidelity prototypes, evaluated early in the design process, are both effective for garnering stakeholder buy-in and developing requirements for future systems. In this paper, we present the findings of the usability studies for each project and discuss ways in which these emerging technologies can be integrated into future human spaceflight operations.

scholarly journals Urologic Innovation in the Spaceflight Environment: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Kahlenberg ◽  
Danielle Carroll ◽  
Octav Cristea ◽  
Emmanuel Urquieta ◽  
Nabil Bissada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Space Station ◽  
Renal Calculi ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Treatment Modalities ◽  
Human Spaceflight ◽  
Endoscopic Techniques ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Tract Infections

The coming decades are poised to usher in an era of commercial spaceflight and extended duration missions beyond low-earth orbit. Urologic challenges and conditions have been central to the history of human spaceflight, and their effective management will continue to play a key role in future endeavors. Voiding equipment, such as the Universal Waste Management System aboard the International Space Station, is emblematic of the significant technical strides that have been made to improve the usability and functionality of non-terrestrial waste elimination and containment devices. Detailed investigations over the past few decades have demonstrated that crew members are at an increased risk of developing nephrolithiasis due, in large part, to the effects of microgravity. Renal calculi and their potentially debilitating effects represent one of the most significant urologic complications that could impact the success of future long duration missions. Other urologic conditions, such as urinary tract infections, urinary retention, and urinary incontinence have been well documented during flight and pose their own challenges. While preventive measures remain central to all mitigation strategies, imaging and treatment modalities such as a S-Mode ultrasound, burst wave lithotripsy, and ultrasonic propulsion are being developed and evaluated as in-flight countermeasures for urologic pathology. Parabolic flights have been conducted to develop and evaluate the feasibility of using surgical and endoscopic techniques to treat urologic conditions in microgravity. Although less often discussed, occupation-related delayed conception and the risk of radiation-induced gamete damage suggests that there may be a need for NASA to adopt a policy for Assisted Reproductive Technology for both male and female astronauts. The last 60 years of human spaceflight have provided a unique opportunity for discovery and medical technology innovation. This paper serves to highlight the advancements that will help pave the way for the next 60 years of human spaceflight.

Optimization of Logistics Strategies for Long-Duration Space-Station Operation

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 1709-1720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun-Peng Lin ◽  
Ya-Zhong Luo ◽  
Guo-Jin Tang
Keyword(s):  
Space Station ◽  
Long Duration

scholarly journals Long-Term Microgravity Effects on Isometric Handgrip and Precision Pinch Force with Visual and Proprioceptive Feedback

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ilario Puglia ◽  
Michele Balsamo ◽  
Marco Vukich ◽  
Valfredo Zolesi
Keyword(s):  
Maximum Voluntary Contraction ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Voluntary Contraction ◽  
Force Output ◽  
Isometric Handgrip ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Space Flights ◽  
Pinch Force ◽  
Long Duration

The study and analysis of human physiology during short- and long-duration space flights are the most valuable approach in order to evaluate the effect of microgravity on the human body and to develop possible countermeasures in prevision of future exploratory missions and Mars expeditions. Hand performances such as force output and manipulation capacity are fundamental for astronauts’ intra- and extravehicular activities. Previous studies on upper limb conducted on astronauts during short-term missions (10 days) indicated a temporary partial reduction in the handgrip maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) followed by a prompt recovery and adaptation to weightlessness during the last days of the mission. In the present study, we report on the “Crew’s Health: Investigation on Reduced Operability” (CHIRO) protocol, developed for handgrip and pinch force investigations, performed during the six months increment 7 and increment 8 (2003-2004) onboard International Space Station (ISS). We found that handgrip and pinch force performance are reduced during long-term increments in space and are not followed by adaptation during the mission, as conversely reported during short-term increment experiments. The application of protocols developed in space will be eligible to astronauts during long-term space missions and to patients affected by muscle atrophy diseases or nervous system injury on Earth.

Reduced heart rate variability during sleep in long-duration spaceflight

2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (2) ◽  
pp. R164-R170 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Xu ◽  
J. K. Shoemaker ◽  
A. P. Blaber ◽  
P. Arbeille ◽  
K. Fraser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Heart Rate Variability ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Power Spectral Analysis ◽  
Power Spectral ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Fractal Properties ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Simultaneous Movement

Limited data are available to describe the regulation of heart rate (HR) during sleep in spaceflight. Sleep provides a stable supine baseline during preflight Earth recordings for comparison of heart rate variability (HRV) over a wide range of frequencies using both linear, complexity, and fractal indicators. The current study investigated the effect of long-duration spaceflight on HR and HRV during sleep in seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station up to 6 mo. Measurements included electrocardiographic waveforms from Holter monitors and simultaneous movement records from accelerometers before, during, and after the flights. HR was unchanged inflight and elevated postflight [59.6 ± 8.9 beats per minute (bpm) compared with preflight 53.3 ± 7.3 bpm; P < 0.01]. Compared with preflight data, HRV indicators from both time domain and power spectral analysis methods were diminished inflight from ultralow to high frequencies and partially recovered to preflight levels after landing. During inflight and at postflight, complexity and fractal properties of HR were not different from preflight properties. Slow fluctuations (<0.04 Hz) in HR presented moderate correlations with movements during sleep, partially accounting for the reduction in HRV. In summary, substantial reduction in HRV was observed with linear, but not with complexity and fractal, methods of analysis. These results suggest that periodic elements that influence regulation of HR through reflex mechanisms are altered during sleep in spaceflight but that underlying system complexity and fractal dynamics were not altered.

Space Station: Campaigning for a Permanent Human Presence in Space

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Neal
Keyword(s):  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Human Spaceflight ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
The Face ◽  
Actual Configuration ◽  
Permanent Presence

Chapter 5, “Space Station: Campaigning for a Permanent Human Presence in Space,” transitions from the space shuttle as the focus of U.S. human spaceflight to NASA’s push for a permanent space station from the 1980s into the new century. The space station became the new icon for justifying humans living and working off the planet. The focus here is the constant effort to shape and reshape both the rationale for the station and its actual configuration in the face of mounting opposition. Two phrases served to reshape the meaning of spaceflight once a space station claimed the agenda: “the next logical step” and “a permanent presence in space.”

Making media work in space: an interdisciplinary perspective on media and communication requirements for current and future space communities

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 259-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Babidge ◽  
J. Cokley ◽  
F. Gordon ◽  
E. Louw
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Social Adaptation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Future Space ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Work ◽  
Group Attributes

As humans expand into space communities will form. These have already begun to form in small ways, such as long-duration missions on the International Space Station and the space shuttle, and small-scale tourist excursions into space. Social, behavioural and communications data emerging from such existing communities in space suggest that the physically-bounded, work-oriented and traditionally male-dominated nature of these extremely remote groups present specific problems for the resident astronauts, groups of them viewed as ‘communities’, and their associated groups who remain on Earth, including mission controllers, management and astronauts’ families. Notionally feminine group attributes such as adaptive competence, social adaptation skills and social sensitivity will be crucial to the viability of space communities and in the absence of gender equity, ‘staying in touch’ by means of ‘news from home’ becomes more important than ever. A template of news and media forms and technologies is suggested to service those needs and enhance the social viability of future terraforming activities.

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