ASEN 5016 Lecture 1: Course Overview and Historical Perspectives

 

 OBJECTIVES

 

1. Course overview - goals and objectives

2. Provide historical context of human space flight

 

I. Course overview - goals and objectives

 

Goals:  To understand the basics of what it takes to stay alive, healthy and happy in space and to learn to think and write critically about current research topics pertaining to the effects of space flight on living organisms.

 

Broad Learning Objectives:

 

  1. Gain an understanding of the physiological requirements associated with keeping humans alive in the space environment.
    -- of general interest to anyone in a  human space flight oriented career, in particular, for spacecraft life support system design or mission operations roles
  2. Become knowledgeable of how the human body responds to and/or adapts to increasing durations of exposure to space flight (in particular, weightlessness), discuss the corresponding impacts to astronaut health (physiological and psychological), and describe methods used (or still needed) to mitigate these detrimental effects.
    -- specifically relevant to individuals interested in bioengineering equipment design, biomedical research and aerospace medicine
  3. Be able to discuss factors associated with space biology from a quantitative engineering perspective and describe current research in a professional, scientifically appropriate manner.
    -- geared more towards current research in space biology with emphasis on human physiology
  4. Gain ‘first hand’ experience with the peer review processes used for publication and research grant proposal evaluation, including CV and budget preparation.
    -- this exercise is generically applicable to anyone who expects to publish research articles and write grant proposals in their career

 

Miscellaneous information and general expectations:

 

  • Lecture notes will be posted by the evening prior to each class period in an outline format intended to ‘facilitate’ note taking, but not to ‘replace’ it!

 

  • Active participation and discussion is expected / encouraged.  (I realize this may not apply to the remote students, so email me if you have contributions.)
  • This is a very dynamic field, so miscellaneous links to current events will be embedded throughout the lecture notes to the extent possible. Don’t hesitate to speak up if you have heard something that seems to contradict the lecture or text. I am happy to follow up if I don’t know the answer. (Ditto email for remote students.)

 

  • Attendance is important as a lot of information is outside the scope of the text and only loosely captured in the posted notes.
  • Please be on time for class
  • Since is it televised, it is possible and highly recommended to view lectures on CD (available in the Engineering Library) for any class periods that you miss.

 

  • Periodic ‘learning quizzes’ will be given at random times throughout the semester (full credit received for submission)
  • Graded quizzes will be take-home format
  • I am more interested in your rationale and ability to think/communicate logically than memorization of textbook answers.

 

  • Text is Space Physiology (2006) by Jay Buckey

 

 

  • Other courses in the area of Bioastronautics (the study and support of life in space)

 

II. Historical context of early human ‘space’ flight

 

Early “Space” Life Sciences Milestones

 

  • June 1783 – First Free Balloon Flight - Montgolfier brothers used hot air to propel a 38 foot diameter balloon carrying 500 pounds a mile and a half away
  • September 1783 – First live animals taken 1,500 feet up in flight – a sheep, a duck and a rooster – sheep kicked the rooster, but all survived!
  • October 1783 - Pilatre de Rozier became the first person to fly! (but the balloon was tethered)
  • The first sustained free flight to ~3000 feet was accomplished a few weeks later by a physicist (Rozier) and a military officer (Marquis d’Arlandes). The two ‘aeronauts’ carried a pail of water and a sponge as safety equipment.
  • August 1783, Nicolas and Charles Roberts released a hydrogen-filled balloon that flew 15 miles
  • Three months later, Jaques Charles (of PV = nRT fame) soloed the Robert’s balloon to 10,000 feet
  • Rozier later tried combining hydrogen and hot air and was subsequently killed in an accident

 

 

  • Capt. Iven Kincheloe flew a Bell X-2 rocket-powered plane to the edge of space (126,200 feet, or 26,000 feet higher than anyone had ever flown before) on Sept. 7, 1956

 

 

Even prior to the Wright’s first powered aircraft flight in 1903, balloon pilots had experienced cold, hypoxia, pressure changes, motion sickness, crashes and death.

 

First flight physiological symptoms - complaint of cold and sharp pain in ears upon descent

 

First fatality (Rozier) occurred ~2 years into the age of aerial flight in 1785

 

Tragedy begets solutions

 

Aerospace Medicine roots stem from Aviation Medicine and branch into Space Medicine.

 

1907 – first papers published addressing physiological effects of airplane flight.

 

WWI Candidates for flight selection initially so high by the Surgeon General that no one passed!

 

More realistic standards were then adopted, and of 100,000 applicants, 30% DQ’d for medical reasons, with visual defects identified as cause for 20% of those rejected.

 

Early Medical Standards

 

  1. All candidates subject to rigorous physical exam
  2. Visual acuity without glasses shall be normal
  3. Any diminished hearing acuity, disease of inner ear or equilibrium problems will be cause for rejection.  The following tests for equilibrium problems were used:
    1. Stand with knees, heels and toes touching
    2. Walk forward, backward and in a circle
    3. Hop around the room, eyes open/closed, one foot/two feet – any consistent let/right deviation is evidence of inner ear disease and cause for rejection.
  4. Respiratory and circulation organs and nervous system normal
  5. Precision of movement of the limbs carefully noted
  6. History of chronic digestive disturbances, constipation, indigestion, dizziness or headaches are grounds for rejection

 

Classically, clinical medicine has been concerned with care and cure of diseased individuals.  In contrast, Aviation Medicine deals with exceptionally healthy individuals exposed to an abnormal environment.

 

Issues arose during WWI regarding medical grounds for DQ’ing pilots having been injured or otherwise compromised health. This era set the standards currently in use by the FAA and NASA.

 

In 1948, the USAF School of Aviation held a meeting to discuss potential medical problems of space travel

 

Controversy was raised over the ability to withstand stresses of space flight, including launch/landing loads:

Nausea, sleepiness, sleeplessness, fatigue, restlessness, euphoria, incoordination, muscle atrophy, bone demineralization, motion sickness, hypertension, hypotension, reduced blood/plasma volume, dehydration, weight loss, infection…

 

In 1949, the USAF School of Medicine established a department of ‘Space Medicine’ with topics of: medical sciences, astronomy, engineering and bioclimatology (study of the effects of climate conditions on living organisms).  Dr. Hubertus Strughold was appointed Director, and is regarded by many as the “Father of Space Medicine.”

 

In 1959, NASA asked the U.S. military services to list their members who met specific qualifications for what became selection of the Original 7 Mercury Astronauts.

 

Current NASA Astronaut Selection Requirements

 

Early Animal Flights (1940’s and 50’s)

Sputnik (October 4, 1957)

  • Sputnik 1 - world’s first artificial satellite

Explorer 1 (January31, 1958)

  • First US satellite
  • Detected a Van Allen Radiation Belt

Vostock 1 (April 12, 1961)

  • First human in space (Yuri Gagarin)

Mercury Program (May 1961- May 1963)

  • Original 7 US astronauts
  • 6 flights
  • Basic survival and life support demonstrated

Gemini Program (March 1965 – November 1966)

  • 10 flights, planning began in 1961
  • Duration up to 14 days (coincident with Lunar mission duration)
  • Designed to study performance and physiological limits
  • First EVA

 

Significant Biomedical Findings from Gemini Flights

Loss of RBC mass of 5-20%

Loss of exercise capacity

Higher than predicted metabolic cost of EVA

Sustained loss of bone calcium and muscle nitrogen                                                                                   

Loss of os calcis bone density

Post flight orthostatic intolerance

 

Apollo Program (January 1967 – December 1972)

  • 11 flights
  • Goal as stated by JFK in 1961 … to land a man on the moon and return safely to Earth before the decade is out.
  • Apollo 11 (July 1969)
  • 6 landings total through 1972
  • Total of 12 men have been on the moon

 

Biomedical observations confirmed Gemini results, and added vestibular disturbances

Soyuz Program (1960’s and 70’s)

  • Originally intended to be USSR’s lunar program
  • Upgraded versions of the original design are still in use (Soyuz T, TM and TMA)

Salyut 1 (1970’s and 80’s)

  • First Space Station Launched April 19, 1971

Skylab (May 1973 – February 1974)

  • 3 missions – 28, 59 and 84 days
  • 3 crewmembers each
  • approximately 300 m3 (vs. 1-8 m3 for the previous craft)

 

No evidence that bone mineral loss was self limiting, even with the use of countermeasures

Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP, July 1975)

  • 1 flight (July 75)
  • 9 days

US Space Shuttle

  • First shuttle flight (STS-1) on April 12, 1981
  • Challenger accident occurred 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986 (STS-51L)
  • Flights resumed with the launch of STS-26 on September 29, 1988
  • Columbia and crew lost during entry 16 minutes before landing Feb. 1, 2003 (STS-107)
  • Flights resumed with the launch of STS-114 on July 26, 2005 (photos)
  • Next Mission STS-122 on Feb 7

Mir (February 1986 – March 2001)

·        Launched February 19, 1986

  • Expected Lifetime of "at least 5 years"
  • Deorbited March 23, 2001

Shuttle-Mir Program (February 1994 – June 1998)

  • Total of 7 US Astronauts lived aboard Mir

International Space Station (ISS)

  • 16 nations participating:
  • United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Brazil
  • First element "Zarya" launched November 1998
  • Second component "Unity" mated during STS-88 and ISS entered for the first time on 10 December 1998
  • Permanent crew rotations as of 31 Oct 2000
  • See the ISS (note, if you are somewhere besides Boulder, follow links from the ‘home’ button on this site for viewing info at your location)

Moon / Mars Exploration

 

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev became the human with the most cumulative time in space on August 16, 2005. At 1:44 a.m. EDT he passed the prior record of 748 days held by Sergei Avdeyev.  In completing his sixth space flight, Krikalev logged a total of 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes in space, including eight EVA's.

Longest single duration of a human in space to date = 437.7 days (Valery Polyakov, 1994-95)

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