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Review

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

by
Chayakrit Krittanawong
1,2,3,*,
Nitin Kumar Singh
4,
Richard A. Scheuring
5,
Emmanuel Urquieta
2,6,
Eric M. Bershad
7,
Timothy R. Macaulay
8,
Scott Kaplin
3,
Carly Dunn
9,
Stephen F. Kry
10,
Thais Russomano
11,
Marc Shepanek
12,
Raymond P. Stowe
13,
Andrew W. Kirkpatrick
14,
Timothy J. Broderick
15,
Jean D. Sibonga
16,
Andrew G. Lee
17,18,19,20,21,22 and
Brian E. Crucian
23,*
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
 
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Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cells 2023, 12(1), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12010040
Submission received: 2 November 2022 / Revised: 5 December 2022 / Accepted: 7 December 2022 / Published: 22 December 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Advances Related to Cardiovascular System)
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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; space travel; space mission; space exploration; space radiation; microgravity human health; space travel; space mission; space exploration; space radiation; microgravity

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MDPI and ACS Style

Krittanawong, C.; Singh, N.K.; Scheuring, R.A.; Urquieta, E.; Bershad, E.M.; Macaulay, T.R.; Kaplin, S.; Dunn, C.; Kry, S.F.; Russomano, T.; et al. Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review. Cells 2023, 12, 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12010040

AMA Style

Krittanawong C, Singh NK, Scheuring RA, Urquieta E, Bershad EM, Macaulay TR, Kaplin S, Dunn C, Kry SF, Russomano T, et al. Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review. Cells. 2023; 12(1):40. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12010040

Chicago/Turabian Style

Krittanawong, Chayakrit, Nitin Kumar Singh, Richard A. Scheuring, Emmanuel Urquieta, Eric M. Bershad, Timothy R. Macaulay, Scott Kaplin, Carly Dunn, Stephen F. Kry, Thais Russomano, and et al. 2023. "Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review" Cells 12, no. 1: 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12010040

APA Style

Krittanawong, C., Singh, N. K., Scheuring, R. A., Urquieta, E., Bershad, E. M., Macaulay, T. R., Kaplin, S., Dunn, C., Kry, S. F., Russomano, T., Shepanek, M., Stowe, R. P., Kirkpatrick, A. W., Broderick, T. J., Sibonga, J. D., Lee, A. G., & Crucian, B. E. (2023). Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review. Cells, 12(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12010040

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