title: [From 108 minutes to 438 days and further on... (on the 40th anniversary of Iu. A. Gagarin's flight)].
abstract: The progress of science and technology at the end of the XIXth and first half of the XXth century paved the way to start space exploration by humanity. The flight of Yu. A. Gagarin on April 12, 1961 was one of the history watersheds that had a great many of social implications. Piloted missions to space demonstrated the possibility for humans to adapt to the spaceflight factors which, nonetheless, can provoke various unfavorable reactions, particularly on return to Earth. Step-by-step extension of mission length paralleled enhancement of the methods of monitoring of crew health, life support systems, and development of modalities to maintain crew health and performance. The paper contains brief discussion of data acquired in short- and long-term missions including the 438-d mission of cosmonaut-physician V.V. Polyakov. The final section is devoted to the mainstream problems of future piloted space programs.
authors.affiliation: Aviakosmicheskaya i Ekologicheskaya Meditsina, Russia.
authors.forename: O G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Gazenko
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Grigor'ev
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Egorov
mesh_terms: D000337:Aerospace Medicine / Q000266:history*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history; D002319:Cardiovascular System; D004703:Endocrine System / Q000502:physiology; D005197:Famous Persons; D006304:Health Status; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology; D013026:Space Flight / Q000266:history*; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history; D013997:Time Factors; D014586:USSR; D014893:Weightlessness