Re: COSMIC QUESTION
Dillon,
The science of “Space Medicine” was founded in 1948 and developed rapidly. Key medical issues related to space travel include decompression sickness, maintaining muscle mass and density, fatigue, radiation, spatial disorientation, insomnia, low blood pressure, blindness, performance and balance, immune system health, psychological stress and isolation, and more.
Sometimes the writer has to ignore the medical facts in order to favor the fiction, especially in TV and Film. The director of “Gravity” refused to show Sandra Bullock in a diaper when she removed her space suit, even though it is required attire for astronauts. That would have been too much realism, distracting, and not a pretty picture. It’s great that you are looking to current space medicine facts to craft your fiction. Here are a few resources to get you started:
Pick a mission and the crew answers medical questions:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/feedback/index.html...
University Space Research Association (USRA)
Videos on Space Medicine Topics:
http://www.dsls.usra.edu/outreach/multimedia/...
Interview with NASA flight surgeon Richard Scheuring:
http://thedo.osteopathic.org/2014/09/hero-next-door-nasa-flight-sur...
NIH Medline Plus articles on NASA space medicine origins and spinoffs:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/fall07/articles/...
H.S. Clark, MD
