Medical and Surgical Issues for Space Tourism : Where Are We Now?
- Paper number
IAC-07-B3.I.06
- Author
Dr. Marlene Grenon, McGill University, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Andrew Kirkpatrick, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Joan Saary, Canada
- Year
2007
- Abstract
INTRODUCTION : The advent of space tourism at the dawn of this century and its continued growth raises numerous issues in the assessment, qualification and administration of the issues relating to health and well being of this new generation of astronauts. The goals of this paper are to provide a review of the current literature and medical best practice related to the medical and regulatory implications of space tourism, and subsequently, to identify areas currently lacking and requiring attention in this field for the safe venue of civilian spaceflight. METHODS : The medical literature was searched for papers related to space tourism using the search engine PUBMED from 1980 to present. The words included in search were "space tourism", "civilian spaceflight", and "medical implications". Furthermore, the references of these papers found were assessed for additional sources such as websites and other published documents. RESULTS : The survey of the medical literature reported five articles (3 of editorial type and 2 position papers) dealing with the medical implications of space tourism, medical standards and related regulatory issues. It was found that medical standards and guidelines for space tourism have been proposed by diverse organizations. Although some attention has been brought to the medical issues related to space tourism, significant gaps still exist in the areas of 1) systematic application of space tourism medical standards, 2) management of medical or surgical countingencies onboard a flight with commercial space passengers, 3) basic medical infracture or hardware onboard the flight, and 4) implications of the type of flight on the elected medical strategy. On a broader scale, the impact of medical issues for space tourism at large on the industry and the need (or not) for a regulatory body are other areas not covered. CONCLUSIONS : As the pace of space tourism activities continues to escalate, it is imperative that due responsibility is taken by the leaders of the space tourism sector themselves in order to ensure that this young, and ultimately highly influential, sector of the space industry takes as much of the lead as possible to provide a safe journey for civilian spaceflight. We propose herein basic strategies to address the deficiencies identified but most importantly, we stress the importance of further international and interdisciplinary efforts dedicated to this matter.
- Abstract document