Among advances made during the 30-year operational life of the shuttle were those in our understanding of decompression sickness. New denitrogenation procedures were validated with research subjects in altitude chambers. Validation continued during hundreds of spacewalks that were safely performed from the shuttle and Russian Mir space station, and are performed from the International Space Station. Hypobaric exposure combined with microgravity achieved through space flight afforded a unique opportunity to understand more about decompression sickness. Lessons learned included: (1) greater understanding of limits to depressurization to minimize evolved gas and symptoms of decompression sickness, (2) methods to accelerate denitrogenation during oxygen prebreathing, (3) insights into tissue micronuclei formation and stability, (4) differences between research and operational settings, and (5) translation of research results into effective operational prebreathe protocols appropriate for a spacesuit operating at a pressure only 4.3 psia (222 mmHg) above the space vacuum. A spacewalk is the culmination of many hours of training under both hyperbaric and hypobaric conditions, training that must be managed to avoid decompression sickness. Flexibility in selecting atmospheric gas composition and pressure in future exploration vehicles and habitats plus advances in spacesuit design will enable humans to exploit space without interference from decompression sickness
Preventing Decompression Sickness Over Three Decades of Extravehicular Activity
2011
64 pages
Report
No indication
English
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