Health care during prolonged weightlessness in humans.
The demands for accumulation of knowledge about the human adaptation to weightlessness of long duration and the implications for the health and well-being of the astronaut have become increasingly important also for the international space programmes which are under development. The health care during long duration space-flights starts already with the selection where professional, psychological and medical criteria are considered. Space flights in low earth orbit have not been extended beyond 1 year, so the predictable value for long term space flights is limited, because e.g. Mission to Mars will last from 1.5 to 3 years, depending on the position of the planets, the space vehicle etc. The long duration and the enormous distance covered will induce very special and until now unknown effects on the human psychology which might be seen as the one single major factor which might be prohibitive for such long duration flights. The Moon base will bring further knowledge useful for long duration space flights in the field of medical care in general, but also with regard to the development of countermeasures against the adverse effects of weightlessness on the human body. The Moon's gravitational field of 0.16 G makes it possible to study this as a threshold in the adaptation processes.
Bonde-Petersen
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ESA Medical Support Section, European Astronauts Centre, Cologne, Germany.
D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D006801:Humans; D013026:Space Flight; D014893:Weightlessness