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The universality of gravity on Earth (1-G) in our everyday experience makes it difficult for us to appreciate its importance. Spaceflight provides the only feasible way to investigate and understand the role gravity has played in our origins, evolution, morphology, and physiology. Today we live on the cusp of an evolutionary boundary: moving from gravity to microgravity, to new planetary environments creating new opportunities for selection. A microgravity laboratory such as Space Station, provides an extraordinary opportunity to explore fundamental biological processes through microgravity. This talk will discuss the challenges and opportunities of the road ahead.
Joan Vernikos, Ph.D., is director of the Life Sciences Division at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. She was formerly Associate Director of Space Research and Chief (Acting) of the Life Sciences Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, California. Dr. Vernikos' research has focused on understanding the endocrine, neurohumoral, and behavioral mechanism underlying the response to stress and applying that knowledge to operational conditions in aeronautics and space. A fundamental theme in her work has been the interaction of the physiological baseline, biological rhythms, and the stress response. She was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for her work describing the physiological cost of the response to stress and the physiological concepts underlying coping. She has applied these concepts in the development of predictive and diagnostic tests and to understand the mechanisms responsible for post-flight orthostatic hypotension, using head-down bedrest as the analog.
Maurice Averner, J.D., Ph.D., is in the Life Sciences Division of NASA where he is program manager of the Advanced Life Support Program. He received his undergraduate training in chemistry and biology at Brooklyn College of the University of the City of New York, graduate training in cell and molecular biology at Brandeis University, and postgraduate training at Yale University and the University of Colorado Medical School. Participation in a summer workshop in terraforming at NASA's Ames Research Center caused him to shift his scientific interests to issues of ecology, including global ecology and bioregenerative life support systems. After several years conducting research on laboratory and computer CELSS models as a staff member of the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of New Hampshire, he moved to NASA Headquarters where he assumed his present position.
In traveling an unprecedented distance from Earth, the first Mars crew will undergo prolonged periods of isolation and confinement while being subjected to formidable combinations of hardships and dangers. Dr. Clearwater will present some of the foremost biomedical, psychological, and social challenges for the crew and identify means of aligning humans and technology in the interests of mission success.
Over the last 23 years, Yvonne A. Clearwater, Ph.D., has worked professionally as a design research psychologist, applying formal research methods and theory from the behavioral and social sciences to the design of complex environments with specialized human requirements, ranging from challenging architectural problems to advanced informational environments and products. She is currently working at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, California.
Historically, the role of psychosocial issues for space crews has been severely limited. With three decades of experience in the space environment, the time has come to move from simply ruling out pathology towards identifying those individuals who are best suited to maintain maximal health and performance under these conditions. Both analog and anecdotal evidence from the U.S. and Russian programs clearly indicate that this is not a minor consideration and suggest that for long-duration spaceflight, perhaps as short as two-weeks long, deterioration in performance, mental functioning, and social interaction are evident to a greater or lesser degree. Such evidence has clearly indicated problematic areas in which group functioning has been compromised by the presence of communication breakdowns, interpersonal conflict, individualized responses to environmental stresses, and conflicts over authority and control. Research examining differential gender effects in space are challenging ingrained assumptions of superior male adaptation to the stresses and rigors of spaceflight and microgravity. In particular, there is a growing body of evidence from analog environments which suggests that mixed crews are highly preferable to the traditional all-male crew. An overview of the issues and evidence will be presented and discussed.
Sheryl L. Bishop, Ph.D., is a social psychologist in the Department of Preventive, Occupational and Environmental Medicine and The Center for Aerospace Medicine and Physiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX.
The study of human sexological factors in relation to long-duration spaceflight has yet to be studied by NASA. Nevertheless, research related to this subject has been conducted by NASA scientists and others. We will look at research that has been done in the biomedical sphere including what we know about reproduction in space and the relevance it might have for humans. We will also examine the psychosocial aspects of spaceflight and the effect that sexological considerations will have on living and working relationships in space. Finally, we will conjecture about what further questions need to be answered--and asked--regarding the broad issues of human sexuality in order to be fully prepared for humanity's eventual long-term habitation of space environments. However, the study of sexuality in a space context--as much as in other spheres of scientific inquiry--is as much centered within political discourse as it is within the biomedical and psychosocial spheres. How does this affect research and policy in the realm of space, and how might we contribute to these efforts?
Ray Noonan is currently completing his dissertation for the Ph.D. (partly on which this presentation is based) in the Human Sexuality Program at New York University and is the director of the Sex Institute, an educational consulting firm in New York City. He is co-author and editor of Does Anyone Still Remember When Sex Was Fun? Positive Sexuality in the Age of AIDS, a supplementary reader used in colleges across the U.S., the third edition of which will be available in the fall of 1996, and is an adjunct instructor in sexuality and health education at the Fashion Institute of Technology-State University of New York (FIT-SUNY) in Manhattan. He is also the president of ParaGraphic Artists in New York City, which specializes in World Wide Web design and administration, desktop publishing, and other computer, publishing, and graphics-related services. Ray has been responsible for the ISDC'96 Web site.
Neurolab is a flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which 100% of the mission effort will be devoted to neurobiological research evenly divided between human and animal-oriented experiments. This flight, which is jointly funded by NASA and NIH, is currently scheduled for March, 1998, as part of the Decade of the Brain. One of the most far-reaching issues to be addressed on this mission is: How do the unique conditions and experience of spaceflight influence and modify the development of the nervous system? Seven international teams of neuroscientists have designed experiments addressing this question using mouse embryos and rat pups. The specific questions being addressed range from understanding the effects of microgravity on cell proliferation during early development of the brain to determining whether modifications of developing neuronal circuitry may produce permanent changes in the behavioral abilities of the animal. The general issue of adaptability of the nervous system of an organism to the conditions of space during different periods throughout its life cycle will be discussed.
Richard S. Nowakowski, Ph.D., received his doctorate in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University in 1976. He did postdoctoral work at Duke University and at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany. In 1981, he joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and is now an associate professor at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Because of flight connection delays with American Airlines at Dallas-Ft. Worth, Dr. Thagard will not appear as scheduled. We apologize to those who were looking forward to his presentation.
Dr. Thagard will talk about the events of his four-month-long mission on the Mir space station, e.g., Progress and Spectr arrivals, five space walks, etc., as well as the Shuttle-Mir science program which consisted of 28 experiments. Most of those experiments dealt with the physiological (including cardiovascular, hematological, vestibular, and musculoskeletal) effects of long-duration spaceflight. Time permitting, Dr. Thagard will discuss the important effects potentially impacting ultimate mission duration and give specific information about his personal data from these experiments, i.e., bone loss, anemia, etc.
Norman E. Thagard, M.D., has flown on five Shuttle missions, accumulating over 140 days in space, with his 115-day mission in 1995 on Russia's Mir space station being the longest ever to date for an American. The first American to fly in the Russian space program, Dr. Thagard conducted 28 experiments in human physiology before returning to Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. In 1992, he flew on the STS-42 mission aboard the Shuttle Discovery, which investigated the effects of microgravity on materials processing and in the life sciences. Of the 55 major experiments in the International Microgravity Laboratory-1, the effects of zero- and microgravity on the growth of protein and semiconductor crystals, as well as the biological effects on plants, tissues, bacteria, insects, and human vestibular response were conducted. He also flew on STS-30 aboard the Shuttle Atlantis in 1989, which deployed the Magellan Venus-exploration spacecraft, in addition to conducting studies of fluids, chemistry, and electrical storms; STS-51B on the Spacelab-3 science mission aboard the Shuttle Challenger in 1985, which deployed the NUSAT satellite, and included his taking care of the 24 rats and two squirrel monkeys contained in the Research Animal Holding Facility, and other experiments; and STS-7 aboard the Shuttle Challenger in 1983, during which he conducted various medical tests and collected data on physiological changes associated with astronaut adaptation to space and retrieved the rotating SPAS-01 satellite using the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The recipient of numerous awards for his military and aerospace accomplishments, Dr. Thagard retired from NASA in 1996 and is currently Visiting Professor and Director of College Relations for Florida A&M University-Florida State University (FAMU-FSU) College of Engineering, Tallahassee, Florida.
