Human Space Flight (NASA)

The NASA Human Space Flight

Five reasons :

    - To extend the search for our origins . . . and for life in the solar system
    - To improve our understanding of the past and future of Earth's systems by improving our knowledge of the past and future of other planets
    - To expand our existence in the solar system . . . learning to live and work on another planet
    - To fulfill the basic human quest for knowledge and experience... and to realize an age-old vision
    - To open opportunities for commercial development. " ... more

NASA's Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA)
"NASA's Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA) contains information and data from space flight experiments funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). These experiments were conducted from 1961 to the present time, and include human, animal and plant studies. Our goal is to not only provide life sciences data from the last 40 years via this Web site, but to also archive life sciences experiments from future Shuttle missions and the International Space Station. The intended audience for the LSDA Web site encompasses all individuals, ranging from scientists and teachers to the general space enthusiast. This project is a work in progress. New information will be added on a regular basis. We welcome your input and feedback."

The Human Exploration and Operations at NASA
"The Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate provides the Agency with leadership and management of NASA space operations related to human exploration in and beyond low Earth orbit. HEO also oversees low-level requirements development, policy, and programmatic oversight. The International Space Station, currently orbiting the Earth with a crew of six, represents the NASA exploration activities in low Earth orbit.

Exploration activities beyond low Earth orbit include the management of Commercial Space Transportation, Exploration Systems Development, Human Space Flight Capabilities, Advanced Exploration Systems, and Space Life Sciences Research & Applications.

The directorate is similarly responsible for Agency leadership and management of NASA space operations related to Launch Services, Space Transportation, and Space Communications in support of both human and robotic exploration programs." ... more

Beyond Earth
Expanding human presence into the solar system

    - International Space Station
    - Commercial Space Transportation
    - Crew Vehicle and Launch System
    - Human Health and Safety
    - Analog Missions and Field Testing
    - Advanced Capabilities Division
    - Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP)"

... more

National Space Biomedical Research Institute
Solutions for Space Exploration Health
"National Space Biomedical Research Institute is a unique, non-profit science institute established in 1997 by NASA through an open competition. The Institute is working on countermeasures to the health-related problems and physical and psychological challenges men and women will face on long-duration missions. The research consortium's primary objective is to ensure safe and productive human spaceflight.

Research also addresses key technologies required to enable and enhance exploration. In particular, NSBRI scientists and physicians are developing technologies to provide medical monitoring, diagnosis and treatment in the extreme environments that will be faced during exploration missions.

NSBRI's integrated and coordinated activities engage academic, government and industry sectors, and emphasize achievement through excellence.

Benefiting Earth
NSBRI discoveries impact medical care on Earth. While solving space health issues, the Institute is transferring the solutions to patients suffering from similar conditions, including osteoporosis, muscle wasting, shift-related sleep disorders, balance disorders and cardiovascular system problems.

Additionally, the Institute prides itself in having robust education and outreach programs that inspire and train the next generation of scientists, engineers and space explorers. Educational activities range from developing curricular materials for middle school and deploying web-based resources for teachers and faculty to supporting summer internship, graduate and postdoctoral programs." ... more

Human Research Roadmap
Crew health and performance is critical to successful human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. The Human Research Program (HRP) investigates and mitigates the highest risks to human health and performance, providing essential countermeasures and technologies for human space exploration. Risks include physiological effects from radiation, hypogravity, and terrestrial environments, as well as unique challenges in medical support, human factors, and behavioral health support. The HRP utilizes an Integrated Research Plan (IRP) to identify the approach and research activities planned to address these risks, which are assigned to specific Elements within the program. The Human Research Roadmap is the web-based tool for communicating the IRP content. " ... more

The Universities Space Research Association's Division of Space Life Sciences

"The Universities Space Research Association's Division of Space Life Sciences (DSLS) supports NASA's needs for understanding and counteracting the physiological changes that accompany space flight. Based at the Center for Advanced Space Studies in Houston, Texas, the DSLS manages extramural research programs, administers educational programs, coordinates a visiting/staff scientist program, and enhances collaboration between NASA and academic institutions through an extensive series of conferences, workshops, and seminars. This USRA division was established in 1983 as the Division of Space Biomedicine and facilitates participation of the university community in biomedical research programs at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC).

This site includes a video archive of talks presented at the UTMB/JSC Aerospace Medicine Residency Program Space Medicine Grand Rounds seminar series." ... more

Space Life Sciences
"Space exploration places great physiological and behavioral demands on crew members. Humans involved in space flight must remain healthy in hostile environments and perform a myriad of tasks essential to successfully enabling human exploration missions. Furthermore, when space explorers return to Earth they must be capable of healthy and productive lives. To provide for crew health, safety and performance during exploration missions which necessitates a full understanding of the human system risks of space flight, Space Life Sciences has the following mission:

"To optimize human health and productivity for space exploration"

The Space Life Sciences goals are to:

    - Develop and maintain a balanced portfolio of internal and external capabilities
    - Drive medical and environmental health innovations
    - Drive human system integration innovations
    - Ensure a legacy of experts in exploration life science and
    - create enduring support and enthusiasm for space exploration " ... more

The Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Division (HACD)
"The Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Division (HACD) is responsible for the performance of biomedical research focused on:
    1) understanding the normal human response to space flight, and
    2) developing, testing, and delivering countermeasures to those untoward responses that may affect crew health, safety, and/or performance during or after space flight missions. The HACD is comprised of two branches.

Biomedical Research and Operations Laboratories Branch
Biomedical Research and Countermeasures Projects Branch"... more

The Biomedical Research & Countermeasures Project
"The Biomedical Research & Countermeasures Project Projects Branch of the Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Division (HACD) coordinates all directed strategic research projects that support the Human Research Program (HRP) a major part of Advanced Capabilities development within Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. The HRP is instrumental in carrying out the Vision for Space Exploration, by developing and delivering research results, countermeasures and human systems technologies for space exploration on missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Projects Branch personnel implement an integrated, structured approach to understanding, projecting, and mitigating health risks for exploration, through various means including the correlation of test results with both flight data and ground studies. This correlation is used to determine the effectiveness of countermeasures by comparing operational use data to research activities data.

The HRP Program within the Projects Branch comprise of Human Health Countermeasures (HHC), ISS Medical Project (ISSMP) and Space Radiation."... more

The Human Systems Integration Division
"The Human Systems Integration Division advances human-centered design and operations of complex aerospace systems through analysis, experimentation, and modeling of human performance and human-automation interaction to make dramatic improvements in safety, efficiency, and mission success.

What is Human Systems Integration
Human Systems Integration is an umbrella term for several areas of "human factors" research that include human performance, technology design, and human-computer interaction. The study of Human Systems Integration at NASA Ames Research Center focuses on the need for safe, efficient and cost-effective operations, maintenance and training, both in space, in flight and on the ground." ... more

Knowledge Management at NASA
"Knowledge management is getting the right information to the right people at the right time, and helping people create knowledge and share and act upon information in ways that will measurably improve the performance of an organization and its partners.

Why is Knowledge Management critical to NASA?
    - The Agency is constantly challenged to document and integrate its lessons to effectively manage the risk involved in space exploration and human space flight.
    - By its nature, NASA's employees have specialized knowledge.
    - Our goal is to share knowledge with each other and with the public.
    - To ensure safe flight and respond to issues raised by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB).
    - The workforce in the Agency is aging, and it is essential that critical knowledge be captured and retained for future reuse" ... more: What is KM?

NASA's Physical Sciences Research Program
"NASA's Physical Sciences Research Program, along with its predecessors, has conducted significant fundamental and applied research, which has led to improved space systems and produced new products offering benefits on Earth. NASA's experiments in the various disciplines of physical science, reveal how physical systems respond to the near absence of gravity. They also reveal how other forces that on Earth are small compared to gravity, can dominate system behavior in space. The International Space Station (ISS) is an orbiting laboratory that provides an ideal facility to conduct long-duration experiments in the near absence of gravity and allows continuous and interactive research similar to Earth-based laboratories. This enables scientists to pursue innovations and discoveries not currently achievable by other means. NASA's Physical Sciences Research Program also benefits from collaborations with several of the ISS international partners—Europe, Russia, Japan, and Canada—and foreign governments with space programs, such as France, Germany and Italy. The scale of this research enterprise promises new possibilities in the physical sciences, some of which are already being realized both in the form of innovations for space exploration and in new ways to improve the quality of life on Earth." ... more

The Space Biosciences Division provide the Bioscience tools and knowledge to extend human presence beyond Earth by performing the bioscience research and development necessary to enable NASA's long-term exploration mission" ... more

The Astrobiology Program at NASA
"Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This multidisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System, the search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry and life on Mars and other bodies in our Solar System, laboratory and field research into the origins and early evolution of life on Earth, and studies of the potential for life to adapt to challenges on Earth and in space.

NASA's Astrobiology Program addresses three fundamental questions: How does life begin and evolve? Is there life beyond Earth and, if so, how can we detect it? What is the future of life on Earth and in the universe? In striving to answer these questions and improve understanding of biological, planetary, and cosmic phenomena and relationships among them, experts in astronomy and astrophysics, Earth and planetary sciences, microbiology and evolutionary biology, cosmochemistry, and other relevant disciplines are participating in astrobiology research and helping to advance the enterprise of space exploration.

The Astrobiology Program has four elements:
    - the NASA Astrobiology Institute,
    - Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology,
    - Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets,
    - and Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development.

NASA established the Astrobiology Program in 1996. However, NASA studies in the field of exobiology – a predecessor to astrobiology – date back to the beginning of the U.S. space program." ... more

SpaceRef
"SpaceRef is an international privately owned media company and is comprised of SpaceRef Interactive Inc. based out of Reston, Virginia and SpaceRef Canada Interactive Inc. based out of Toronto, Ontario. We do business as the SpaceRef International Group.

SpaceRef's focus is on the global space systems sector. SpaceRef cover civil, commercial and military space as well space policy, space technology, astronomy and most other space related topics.

Founded in 1999, SpaceRef started with a small team of reporters who disseminated the news through our initial three web sites, SpaceRef U.S., NASA Watch and the Astrobiology Web..."

SpaceRef on the Web:
    - SpaceRef U.S.
    - NASA Watch
    - Commercial Space Watch
    - OnOrbit
    - SpaceRef Europe
    - SpaceRef Canada
    - SpaceRef Asia
    - Astrobiology Web
    - Mars TV
    - Space Elevator Reference
    - SpaceRef Mobile