Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
12-22-2022
Journal
Cells
DOI
10.3390/cells12010040
PMID
36611835
PMCID
PMC9818606
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
12-22-2022
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
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 This review synthesizes developments across the continuum of space health including prior studies and unpublished data from NASA related to each individual organ system, and medical screening prior to space travel.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
Humans, Artificial Intelligence, Space Flight, Extraterrestrial Environment, Weightlessness, Circadian Rhythm, human health, space travel, space mission, space exploration, space radiation, microgravity
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Krittanawong, Chayakrit; Singh, Nitin Kumar; Scheuring, Richard A; et al., "Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review" (2022). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 4657.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthgsbs_docs/4657
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Bioinformatics Commons, Biomedical Informatics Commons, Genetic Phenomena Commons, Medical Genetics Commons, Oncology Commons