Review

. 2022 Dec 22;12(1):40.

doi: 10.3390/cells12010040.

Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review

Chayakrit Krittanawong^{1

2

3}, Nitin Kumar Singh⁴, Richard A Scheuring⁵, Emmanuel Urquieta^{2

6}, Eric M Bershad⁷, Timothy R Macaulay⁸, Scott Kaplin³, Carly Dunn⁹, Stephen F Kry¹⁰, Thais Russomano¹¹, Marc Shepanek¹², Raymond P Stowe¹³, Andrew W Kirkpatrick¹⁴, Timothy J Broderick¹⁵, Jean D Sibonga¹⁶, Andrew G Lee^{17

18

19

20

21

22}, Brian E Crucian²³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine and Center for Space Medicine, Section of Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
² Translational Research Institute for Space Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
³ Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
⁴ Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
⁵ Flight Medicine, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
⁶ Department of Emergency Medicine and Center for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurology, Center for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁸ KBR, Houston, TX 77002, USA.
⁹ Department of Dermatology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
¹¹ InnovaSpace, London SE28 0LZ, UK.
¹² Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer, NASA, Washington, DC 20546, USA.
¹³ Microgen Laboratories, La Marque, TX 77568, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Surgery and Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada.
¹⁵ Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, FL 32502, USA.
¹⁶ Division of Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences, NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Ophthalmology, Blanton Eye Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
²⁰ Department of Ophthalmology, Texas A and M College of Medicine, College Station, TX 77807, USA.
²¹ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
²² Departments of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA.
²³ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center, Human Health and Performance Directorate, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

PMID: 36611835
PMCID: PMC9818606
DOI: 10.3390/cells12010040

Review

Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review

Chayakrit Krittanawong et al. Cells. 2022.

. 2022 Dec 22;12(1):40.

doi: 10.3390/cells12010040.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine and Center for Space Medicine, Section of Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
² Translational Research Institute for Space Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
³ Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
⁴ Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
⁵ Flight Medicine, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
⁶ Department of Emergency Medicine and Center for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurology, Center for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁸ KBR, Houston, TX 77002, USA.
⁹ Department of Dermatology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
¹¹ InnovaSpace, London SE28 0LZ, UK.
¹² Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer, NASA, Washington, DC 20546, USA.
¹³ Microgen Laboratories, La Marque, TX 77568, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Surgery and Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada.
¹⁵ Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, FL 32502, USA.
¹⁶ Division of Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences, NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Ophthalmology, Blanton Eye Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
²⁰ Department of Ophthalmology, Texas A and M College of Medicine, College Station, TX 77807, USA.
²¹ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
²² Departments of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA.
²³ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center, Human Health and Performance Directorate, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

PMID: 36611835
PMCID: PMC9818606
DOI: 10.3390/cells12010040

Abstract

The field of human space travel is in the midst of a dramatic revolution. Upcoming missions are looking to push the boundaries of space travel, with plans to travel for longer distances and durations than ever before. Both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and several commercial space companies (e.g., Blue Origin, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic) have already started the process of preparing for long-distance, long-duration space exploration and currently plan to explore inner solar planets (e.g., Mars) by the 2030s. With the emergence of space tourism, space travel has materialized as a potential new, exciting frontier of business, hospitality, medicine, and technology in the coming years. However, current evidence regarding human health in space is very limited, particularly pertaining to short-term and long-term space travel. This review synthesizes developments across the continuum of space health including prior studies and unpublished data from NASA related to each individual organ system, and medical screening prior to space travel. We categorized the extraterrestrial environment into exogenous (e.g., space radiation and microgravity) and endogenous processes (e.g., alteration of humans' natural circadian rhythm and mental health due to confinement, isolation, immobilization, and lack of social interaction) and their various effects on human health. The aim of this review is to explore the potential health challenges associated with space travel and how they may be overcome in order to enable new paradigms for space health, as well as the use of emerging Artificial Intelligence based (AI) technology to propel future space health research.

Keywords: human health; microgravity; space exploration; space mission; space radiation; space travel.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Krittanawong discloses the following relationships-Member of the American College of Cardiology Solution Set Oversight Committee, the American Heart Association Committee of the Council on Genomic and Precision Medicine, the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Joint Committee on Clinical Data Standards (Joint Committee), and the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Task Force on Performance Measures, The Lancet Digital Health (Advisory Board), European Heart Journal Digital Health (Editorial board), Journal of the American Heart Association (Editorial board), JACC: Asia (Section Editor), and The Journal of Scientific Innovation in Medicine (Associate Editor). Other authors have no disclosure.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Potential effects of the space environment on each organ system.

**Figure 2**
Ophthalmologic screening for SANS.

**Figure 3**
Potential AI applications in space.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review

Affiliations

Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous