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Sickinspace

When astronauts get sick in space, they cannot simply visit a doctor on Earth. NASA and other space agencies have procedures to handle common illnesses that occur in microgravity such as motion sickness during launch. If an astronaut experiences more serious symptoms like infections, injuries, or requires surgery, they will evacuate back to Earth as soon as possible using a Soyuz spacecraft. As space travel pushes further out into deep space, medical technologies will need to advance to address hazards like radiation, isolation, distant locations from Earth, altered gravity, and enclosed environments.

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156 views

Sickinspace

When astronauts get sick in space, they cannot simply visit a doctor on Earth. NASA and other space agencies have procedures to handle common illnesses that occur in microgravity such as motion sickness during launch. If an astronaut experiences more serious symptoms like infections, injuries, or requires surgery, they will evacuate back to Earth as soon as possible using a Soyuz spacecraft. As space travel pushes further out into deep space, medical technologies will need to advance to address hazards like radiation, isolation, distant locations from Earth, altered gravity, and enclosed environments.

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What Happens When an Astronaut

Gets Sick in Space?


BY KELLY DORAN

AUGUST 9, 2018

NASA/GETTY IMAGES

Astronauts are among the fittest and healthiest people in the world. They're rigorously trained, vetted, and
quarantined before they’re allowed up in space—and yet, despite all those precautions, they do sometimes get
sick. Apollo 13's Fred Haise, for example, had to deal with a painful kidney infection during the dangerous mission
that gave us the phrase "Houston, we have a problem," and one-time astronaut Jake Garn, a Utah senator, got so
motion-sick during a 1985 Discovery mission that astronauts now rate their nausea levels on the Garn Scale. And
because space missions are on a strict schedule planned far in advance, sick astronauts on a space mission can't just
pop down to Earth to see a doctor.

But when astronauts fall ill, they don't have to worry—NASA and other space agencies that have missions aboard the
ISS are prepared.

SPACE ADAPTATION SICKNESS

Zero gravity can change a lot of normal bodily functions. One effect it has is to make the fluids inside the body float,
which confuses the inner ears and makes them unable to tell up from down. This causes space adaptation syndrome
(SAS), a common illness that's kind of like seasickness in space. Motion sickness, the most frequently reported
ailment, is a subset of SAS; it affects 67 to 75 percent of astronauts.
It takes a few days for astronauts' bodies to adjust to weightlessness, during which they may experience symptoms
ranging from headaches to vomiting. And though it might seem like a nightmare to deal with puke, NASA has a
system: Astronauts carry special barf bags with attached face wipes and Ziploc seals that they can use during launch
or while in orbit if they get the urge to hurl. Once used, the bags are tossed in the trash.

COLDS AND SNIFFLES

Because astronauts are quarantined before spaceflight, the likelihood of being exposed to a pathogen in space is
rare. But if an astronaut does come down with the sniffles, they can expect an Earth cold on steroids: Sinuses don't
drain in zero gravity, so congested astronauts feel even stuffier than we do here on the ground. To make matters
worse, germs seem to thrive in weightless environments—pathogens can develop “thicker cell walls, greater
resistance to antimicrobial agents and a greater ability to form so-called biofilms that cling to surfaces” in zero
gravity, according to TIME.

Luckily, colds and even the flu tend to go away on their own, even in space—so astronauts just need to wait it out.

BUMPS, BRUISES, AND OTHER MINOR INJURIES

Astronauts floating around in zero gravity have a tendency to bump into things, which can sometimes cause an
injury. When they want to check on a wound, abrasion, or another condition, they place a phone call to a physician
on the ground, who will advise them what to do.

“We get calls for bumps, and bruises, and little lacerations or cuts,” Shannan Moynihan, deputy chief of space and
occupational medicine at the NASA Johnson Space Center, said at a health tech conference in March 2018. “A typical
scenario might be a newbie, somebody who just got up there, trying to Superman through a hatch and not quite
making it. So we get a call for a little bump on the forehead and we help them figure out how to take care of that.”

A doctor on Earth can walk an astronaut through how to use and read a modified ultrasound machine on the ISS, for
example, or give them additional training in response to a specific medical condition occurring on board. That
happened with spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome, a condition in which ISS astronauts developed visual
and structural changes in their eyes during space missions. They were subsequently trained to conduct a series of
eye tests on themselves.

FROM EVACUATION TO SURGERY

If there’s anything too serious to deal with on board, astronauts can get back to Earth via the the Soyuz spacecraft
that brought them to space—there’s always one docked at the ISS in case of emergency. Medical evacuation has
only happened once, in 1986, when a Soviet astronaut named Vladimir Vasyutin had to leave the Salyut-7 Orbital Lab
[PDF] because of a prostate infection. His trip back to Earth took about six hours; these days, astronauts can land in
less than three and a half.

In the case of a true medical emergency—one that requires surgery—evacuation to Earth is currently the only way
for astronauts to get treatment. Surgery in zero gravity isn't yet possible; blood would float straight out of a wound
and contaminate the whole cabin. As deep space travel gets more feasible, however, it’s possible that one day a
space O.R. might be necessary, and technology is being developed to make potential surgeries easier and cleaner.
Scientists are testing a device called the aqueous immersion surgical system (AISS), a saline filled dome that, when
placed over a wound, could keep blood and bodily fluids in place.

As humanity pushes further into deep space, medical technology will need to become even more sophisticated.
When it comes to deep space missions, NASA representative Stephanie Schierholz tells Mental Floss, “NASA is
specifically looking at five hazards of human space travel: space radiation, isolation and confinement, distance from
Earth, gravity fields (or lack thereof), and hostile/closed environments that pose the greatest risks to the human
mind and body in space.”
Currently, NASA is working on several research and development projects to address the hazards posed by deep
space travel, including no-drill dentistry and emergency wound closure, which would need to be usable by
astronauts with no formal medical or dental training. And because not all potential illness is physical, Mars
settlement simulation projects are helping researchers understand what the psychological, emotional, and social
effects of long-term isolation might be on astronauts.

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