NASA continues to extend spaceflight opportunities through Leadership, Diversity, Inclusion, Innovation, and Precision Medicine.
Spaceflight for Everybody
The purpose of the symposium is to communicate the current state of NASA spaceflight health knowledge. Speakers will highlight NASA’s operational medicine and biomedical research findings that are establishing how the human body adapts to the space environment during space missions. Additionally, other health & medical topics will be discussed including the future goal for spaceflight participation for other nontraditional able-bodied people. We will also discuss the benefits of partnering with commercial providers on human health research to NASA, the commercial spaceflight sector, and to the scientific community. The symposium will be recorded for future public use and a summary of the symposium will be published. The product of the symposium is a better awareness of how NASA protects the health of all astronauts and our plans to do so in the future. The target audience is both healthcare professionals interested in space medicine and interested parties in the general public.
Specific Aims
- Educate and excite the public about the future possibilities of human spaceflight
- Demonstrate how precision health and other innovations expand spaceflight to a more diverse group of space explorers
- Identify spaceflight health challenges and how we mitigate and counter them
- Demonstrate how NASA has partnered with commercial space providers with a goal of expanding access to space
- Demonstrate efforts to broaden exploration opportunities from the ground up – leadership, engineering, science, participants, etc.
Invitees: Scientists and researchers in space medicine and health related areas; the public
Steering Committee
Bette Siegel, John Allen, David Baumann, Serena Aunon, Shannan Moynihan, Terri Bradshaw, Rebekah Reed, Steve Platts, Lisa Simonsen, Steve Davison, Victor Schneider, Mary Van Baalen, Jessica Keune, Dorit Donoviel, Jennifer Fogarty, and Lisa Carnell
The symposium will take place virtually, and NASA will provide a live stream including an ASL translator. Scientists, researchers, healthcare workers, especially those interested in space medicine, and other interested parties who would like to be able to contribute to the virtual chat can register to join the WebEx connection for each day.
Agenda (all times EST)
Day 1: November 8, 2021
(Recorded Sessions)
10:00 a.m. Welcome and Charge for Day 1: Bette Siegel and John Allen
10:05 a.m. Plenary 1 – Human Spaceflight: Kathy Lueders
10:35 a.m. Plenary 2 – Spaceflight Medical Risks: JD Polk
11:05 a.m. Plenary 3 – Space Biology – Where we start and where we go from here: Craig Kundrot
11:35 a.m. Plenary 4 – Firsts In Flight: Charlie Bolden
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. How Far We Have Come – Risks, Findings and Priorities: Bette Siegel, Jancy McPhee, Michelle Frieling
2:00 p.m. Panel Discussion: Health of Women and Men – How it Applies to Spaceflight
Moderator: Jancy McPhee
- Managing the Health of Astronauts: Ronak Shah
- Behavioral Health: Sandra Whitmire
- Space Radiation Health Risks in Men and Women: Lisa Simonsen
3:00 p.m. Adjourn: Bette Siegel
Day 2: November 9, 2021
(Recorded Sessions)
10:00 a.m. Charge for Day 2: Leadership to Space Suits: John Allen
10:05 a.m. Plenary 5 – Firsts In Flight – Part Two: Serena Aunon-Chancellor
10:35 a.m. Panel Discussion: Changing Role of Women in Space Exploration; Programmatic, Policy, Engineering, Science
Moderator: Julie Robinson
- Leading Across Directorates: Julie Robinson
- Leading a NASA Center: Vanessa Wyche
- Women As Leaders In Space Medicine – UTMB Aerospace Residency Training: Ed Powers
- Preparing the Mars Architecture: Michele Rucker
11:35 a.m. Panel Discussion: Human Factors and Human Systems Integration Evolution
Moderator: Robert Howard
- Habitats: Robert Howard
- EVA Suit Evolution: Sudhakar Rajulu
- The Rosetta Stone for Space Exploration: Rich Williams
- Teaming in Space Exploration: Suzanne Bell
- Human Systems Integration: Cynthia Null
12:35 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Panel Discussion: Human Health Risks in the Development of Future Programs
Moderator: Mary Van Baalen
- Space Medicine for Beyond LEO Missions: James Pattarini
- Establishing Medical Standards for Exploration: Dave Francisco
- Human System Risks & Mitigation Opportunities: Sharmi Watkins
- Risk Research for M2M: Steve Platts
- The Role of the Human Systems Risk Board in Risk Mitigation and Mission Planning/Readiness: Mary Van Baalen
2:30 p.m. Adjourn: John Allen
Day 3: November 10, 2021
(Recorded Sessions)
10:00 a.m. Charge for Day 3: Broadening the Participant Base: Dorit Donoviel
10:05 a.m. Plenary 6 – Future Space Flight: Victor Glover
10:35 a.m. Panel Discussion: Opening Spaceflight for Everybody
Moderator: Maneesh Arya
- Diversity and Inclusion In and Beyond LEO: Ken Bowersox
- Diversity and Inclusion and HRP: Maneesh Arya
- Disabilities As a Challenge, Not a Barrier to Spaceflight: Guillaume Weerts
- Aging In and From Space: Joern Rittweger
11:35 a.m. Plenary 7 – Precision Medicine: Opening Exploration Opportunities: Jennifer Fogarty
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Panel Discussion: Increasing the Knowledge Base Through Everybody Going to Space
Moderator: Dorit Donoviel
- Benefits of Partnering with Commercial Providers on Human Health Research to NASA, the Commercial Spaceflight Sector, and to the Scientific Community: Dorit Donoviel
- TRISH EXPAND Program for Commercial Participants Research, Including IRB and Database and Data Sharing Agreements: Emmanuel Urquieta
- SpaceX Inspiration 4 Flight Research Complement and Lessons Learned from the Perspective of a Senior Biomedical Engineer: Jimmy Wu
- Future Work to Be Done: Dorit Donoviel
2:00 p.m. Plenary 8 – Health Innovations: Dorit Donoviel, Emmanuel Urquieta
2:30 p.m. Plenary 9 – Pam Melroy
3:00 p.m. Closing Comments: Bette Siegel and John Allen
Click here to learn more about the Spaceflight for Everybody speakers.