Risk of Adverse Health Outcomes and Decrements in Performance due to Inflight Medical Conditions
Regardless of mission length or objectives, all human spaceflight requires some degree of in-mission medical support. The transition from a gravitational environment to microgravity, coupled with living in a closed-loop environment, can result in variable physiological effects and health risks. For example, anticipated physiological impacts of the microgravity environment include fluid redistribution and subsequent head congestion, particularly during the space adaptation phase. To date, minimal long-term health impacts have been characterized from spaceflight exposure. The ability to predict an integrated long-term health consequence is limited due to limited experience flying long-duration crew members.
In the International Space Station’s Columbus laboratory, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 flight engineer, performs an ultrasound on European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, flight engineer, for the Spinal Ultrasound investigation.
NASA
Directed Acyclic Graph Files
+ DAG File Information (HSRB Home Page)
+ Medical Conditions Risk DAG and Narrative (PDF)
+ Medical Conditions Risk DAG Code (TXT)
Human Research Program
+ Risk of Adverse Health Outcomes & Decrements in Performance due to Inflight Medical Conditions
