Crew health care through all phases of spaceflight is a further assurance measure for mission success. Flight surgeons shepherd their assigned crewmembers through all mission phases, including training, medical exams, prelaunch suit-up, and post-landing recovery. These doctors are so essential that they are always first on scene for landing. If crewmembers were not mentally and physically healthy, their nominal and emergency interactions with the vehicle might be fatally compromised.
Despite careful screening, extensive training, and aggressive countermeasures against the physiological challenges encountered during spaceflight, incidents of ambulatory illness and medical emergencies are a certainty for both short- and long-duration space missions. In this chapter, strategies that evaluate the probability of medical events as well as the medical hardware, procedures, and physician and surgeon resources needed to mitigate them are explored. These risk mitigation strategies are used as the basis for design of health care procedures and facilities in space.
Operational Space Medicine
Space Technology Library
2025-03-28
55 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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