National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Space Flight Participants in
Government Space Programs
www.nasa.gov
Overview
• History
of medical certification of
astronauts
• Unique issues regarding the non-career
astronaut
• Process to certify a space flight
participant
• Illustrative biographies of various space
flight participants
• FAA Standards for Commercial Space
Flight Participants
• Forward work - future considerations
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Space Flight Participants in Government Space Programs
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“I still can't quite believe that we've just marked
the 50th anniversary of the Space Age! We’ve
accomplished a great deal in that time, but the
'Golden Age of Space' is only just beginning.
After half a century of government-sponsored
efforts, we are now witnessing the emergence
of commercial space flight.
Over the next 50 years, thousands of people will
travel to Earth orbit – and then, to the Moon and
beyond. Space travel – and space tourism – will
one day become almost as commonplace as
flying to exotic destinations on our own planet.”
– Arthur C. Clarke
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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Space Flight Participant
Describes crew members who are
not career astronauts, but travel
on government sponsored space
missions. The concept of the
space flight participant
encompasses a broad spectrum
of space explorer
–Payload Specialist
–Teacher in Space
–Congressional observer
–Russian Space Agency’s
Intercosmos Cosmonauts
–Today's Space Flight
Participant
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
17 April 2008-NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson
(right), RSA cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, and
South Korean spaceflight participant Soyeon Yi
in the Harmony node of the International Space
Station.
Space Flight Participants in Government Space Programs
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The History of Space Flight Medical Standards
Developing the criteria
for health and medical operations
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Mercury astronauts
Initial medical criteria were
developed based on:
• Military test pilot standards
• Developed using
hypothetical acceleration
forces (9G)
• Specific to a certain
psychological profile
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The Special Committee on Life Sciences –
advisory committee to NASA, begins to define the
criteria (1958-1960)
The newly formed committee directed by Dr. Randolph Lovelace II
developed the astronaut selection criteria. Dr. Charles Berry
was a committee member and had developed the Air Force
Space Pilot criteria that are the root of the requirements:
•
Have a degree or the equivalent in physical science or
engineering
•
Be a graduate of a military test pilot school
•
Have at least 1500 hours flying time including a substantial
amount in high performance jets
•
Be younger than 40 & no taller than 5’11”
•
Be in superb physical condition and possess psychological
attributes specified by the committee
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The criteria changed as with
Project Gemini (1965-1966)
•
Age requirements were lowered from
40 years old to 35 (and then to 34 for
Apollo)
•
Educational requirements were
broadened to include degrees in
biological sciences
•
Flight experience did not have to come
exclusively from military training, and by
the third class of astronauts, flight
requirements were lowered from 1500
hours to 1000 hours and non-test pilots
could apply
•
Civilians could be included in the
applicant class
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
June 1966-- Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan,
pilot of the Gemini 9-A space flight, is
pictured outside of the spacecraft during his
extravehicular activity.
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Requirements changed in the Apollo Program
(1961-1975)
Scientific evidence and anecdotal
comments informed the body of
knowledge
• The expected and unexpected effects
of space flight on the human body
drove the practice of space medicine
• Medical requirements continued to
reflect military pilots’ medical
certification criteria
•
March 1964-Engineer Bill Peterson fits test
pilot Bob Smyth in space suit A-3H-024 with
the Lunar Excursion Module astronaut
restraint harness during suit evaluation study.
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The beginning of the Shuttle program (1981)
brought new challenges and opportunities
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The First Written Space Flight Specific
Medical Standards (1978)
• These
Space Flight Specific
Medical Requirements were
developed to support the upcoming
Space Shuttle Program
• Categorized astronauts according
to job function and applied unique
medical standards to these
positions
• Astronauts were either Pilots or
Mission Specialists
(March 1981) --- The Space Shuttle
orbiter Columbia is showered with
lights in this nocturnal scene at Launch
Pad 39A, as preparations are
underway for the first flight (STS-1)
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New Classes of Astronauts
• Pilots:
responsible for
handling the spacecraft
–Pilot medical
requirements were called
Class I requirements
• Mission specialists:
responsible for operational
duties, including
Extravehicular Activities
(EVAs)
–Mission Specialist specific
medical requirements were
called Class II
requirements
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
February 1995--Astronaut Bernard A. Harris, Jr.,
payload commander, standing on a foot restraint
attached to the Remote Manipulator System (RMS)
arm carries astronaut C. Michael Foale, mission
specialist, during their shared extravehicular
activity (EVA) in the Space Shuttle Discovery's
cargo bay.
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Introducing a new class of crew member:
Payload Specialist (1983-2003)
• Payload
specialists provided
specific expertise for a
specific mission or hardware
• Assigned to missions less
than 30 days in duration
• Chosen outside the traditional
astronaut selection process
• Initial selection responsibility
fell to the sponsoring
agency
• NASA also reviewed
candidates and had final
selection authority
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
December 1983-NASA astronaut Owen K. Garriott,
left, has just completed drawing blood from the arm
of Byron K. Lichtenberg, Payload Specialist from
MIT onboard the Spacelab module in the cargo bay
of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia.
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NASA Medical Standards for Flight Certification
now included three active classes of crewmembers
(and one developed but never implemented)
• Astronaut
Pilot (Class I
Standards)
• Astronaut Mission Specialist
(Class II Standards)
• Payload Specialist (Class III
Standards)
• Space Flight Participant (Class IV
Standards)
–Developed in 1987 but not baselined or
utilized
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(December 1972) --- Scientist-astronaut
Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot, is
photographed next to the deployed United
States flag during lunar surface Extravehicular
Activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing
site.
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The First Payload Specialists (1983)
The first Shuttle mission to host
Payload Specialists was STS-9
(Spacelab I mission) in 1983
Ulf Merbold
• An international partner
sponsored payload specialist from
West Germany
• The first non-American aboard
the Shuttle
Byron Lichtenberg
• An MIT researcher important to
the Spacelab mission
• The first non-career astronaut
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Charlie Walker: the First Industrial Payload
Specialist (1984)
• Confirmed
by NASA in
1983
• The first industrial
payload specialist
• Accompanied the
McDonnell Douglas
CFES equipment as a
crew member on Space
Shuttle missions STS-41D, STS-51-D, and STS61-B
• Mr. Walker traveled 8.2
million miles in space
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Payload specialist Charles Walker works with the
continuous flow electrophoresis systems (CFES)
experiment, located in the middeck.
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Congressional Observer Senator Jake Garn
(1985)
• Senator
Jake Garn, a
Senator from Utah was
selected to serve as a
Payload Specialist on STS51D in April of 1985.
• Senator Garn’s position as
congressional observer
included participation in
multiple detailed
supplemental objectives
(DSOs) related to effects of
microgravity on human
physiology.
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Representative Bill Nelson (1986)
Representative Bill Nelson of
Florida served as a Payload
Specialist in 1986 on STS-61C
(January 1986) Nelson’s
objectives included:
• Participating in studies for
NASA’s Space Biomedical
Research Institute
–Studies of physiological
adaptation
–Operated the Handheld
Protein Crystal Growth
(HPCG) experiment.
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Teacher in Space: 1984
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Teacher in Space (1984-1986)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
•
The original Announcement of
Opportunity generated upwards of
11000 applications from public
school teachers.
•
From these 10 were chosen for
final interviews and testing. Christa
McAuliffe and runner-up Barbara
Morgan were chosen to begin
training for flight at JSC in 1985.
•
Objectives for this unique payload
specialist opportunity included
televising special space related
classroom lessons.
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STS-51-L: Challenger
• On
Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe on the KC-135 for
zero-G training. McAuliffe, left, and backup Barbara
Morgan experience a few moments of weightlessness
on the KC-135 (McAuliffe, center. and Morgan with
U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson )
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
January 28, 1986,
Challenger began a
unique mission that
included launching the
first Teacher in Space,
Christa McAuliffe.
• The mission and its
seven person crew were
lost 73 seconds after
liftoff.
• The citizens in space
program ended with the
Challenger accident
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Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist
• One
of the seven
crewmembers aboard
STS-51-L
• Payload Specialist for
Hughes Aircraft
(30 January 1985) --- Gregory Jarvis,
STS 51-L payload specialist gets a
familiarization session in
weightlessness aboard a KC-135
"zero gravity" aircraft.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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Barbara Morgan: Mission Specialist and
Educator Astronaut
After the Challenger accident,
Barbara Morgan served as
the Teacher in Space
designee, speaking to various
education related groups in
1986. She returned to teaching
in the fall of 1986
• In 1998, NASA selected
Morgan as a Mission
Specialist
• On August 8, 2007, STS-118
successfully launched,
carrying Mission Specialist
Morgan to the International
Space Station
•
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(12 Aug. 2007) --- Astronaut Barbara R.
Morgan, STS-118 mission specialist, pauses for
a photo while working the controls on the aft
flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour while
docked with the International Space Station
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The Russian space program began flying
space adventurers with the flight of Toyohiro
Akiyama, a Tokyo Broadcasting System
reporter who flew in 1990 to the Mir space
station. The Tokyo Broadcasting System paid
the Russian Space Agency for this opportunity,
where for seven days, Akiyama gave a daily
television broadcast from low earth orbit.
Similarly, in May of 1991, the British
consortium, Project Juno, flew the first
British spaceflight participant, chemist Helen
Sharman
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Intercosmos program
• The
Intercosmos program was run by the Soviet Union
to allow members of Warsaw pact nations to
participate in space exploration missions
• 14 non-Soviet cosmonauts participated in Soyuz flights
between 1978 and 1988
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Transition to a Multilateral Medical
Operations Community
Phase I: Mir-NASA Joint Operations Project
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Importance of Phase I (1994-1998)
The RSA and NASA medical hierarchies
were faced with the complicated tasks of
coordinating and integrating
• The organizational principles,
• Methodology,
• Requirements and
• Medical means of both countries
Goal was to support the health, work
fitness, and professional life of the
combined Russian-American crews, and
of providing conditions for successful
execution of the planned space
programs.
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Phase I Joint Medical Operations
•
Phase I Medical Operations
Working Group (WG):
Dr. Valeri Vasilyevich Morgun
Dr. Valeri Vasilyevich
Bogomolov
Sam Pool, M.D.
Roger Billica, M. D
Tom Marshburn, M. D.
Karen Mathes, RN
•
One outcome of these missions
was the experience in
cooperation gained by the RSA
and NASA medical services
during the missions.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
16-26 Sept. 1996-- Terrence Wilcutt, pilot; Shannon
Lucid, mission specialist; and William F. Readdy,
mission commander, are pictured on the space shuttle
Atlantis' aft flight deck during undocking operations with
Russia's Mir Space Station.
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The First Cosmonaut receiving Mission
Specialist training (1994)
The first flight of the
Shuttle that carried a
Russian Cosmonaut
Sergei Krikalev
STS-60
Launched February
1994
• Krikalev conducted
Remote Manipulator
System (RMS)
operations during the
flight
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Five NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut squeeze
through the tunnel which connects the shirt-sleeve
environment of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the
SPACEHAB module. SPACEHAB is located in the
spacecraft's payload bay. Charles F. Bolden Jr., mission
commander, is at upper right. Others, clockwise from the
commander, are Ronald M. Sega and N. Jan Davis, mission
specialists; Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, payload commander;
Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, mission specialist; and
Kenneth S. Reightler Jr., pilot.
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Norman Thagard: First US Citizen to Lift Off in
a Russian Space Craft
• Lift-off:
March 14, 1995
• Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft
to Russian Mir Station
• Twenty eight experiments
were conducted in the
course of the 115 day
flight
• Returned via STS-71,
Atlantis
Cosmonauts and astronauts during medical
operations training. Astronaut Norman E. Thagard
(right center), a guest researcher on Russia's Mir 18
mission, monitors a test of a subject (out of frame)
in the Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP)
device.
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Jerry Linenger, MD
• First
American to
conduct a spacewalk
from a foreign space
station and in a nonAmerican made
spacesuit
• Serious onboard fire
• Loss of electrical power
This mission highlighted
the need for joint health
and safety requirements,
redundant & compatible
life support systems
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Russia's Mir space station over the blue and white
Earth during initial approach for rendezvous
operations with the Space Shuttle Discovery
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Boards for US Medical Certification
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NASA Boards Providing Oversight
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NASA sets the human health and medical
standards for career and non-career astronauts
•
The NASA office responsible for
developing the policies related to the
health and safety of the astronauts is
the Medical Policy Board of the
Office of the Chief Health and
Medical Officer (OCHMO) - NASA HQ
•
The NASA division responsible for
implementing the Astronaut Medical
Standards is the Space Medicine
Division of the Space Life Sciences
Directorate at Johnson Space Center.
The Aerospace Medicine Board at JSC is primarily a clinical and
implementation body for addressing crew medical qualifications
and developing certification standards.
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Astronaut Medical Evaluation Requirements
Document (AMERD) Rev A (1998 to 2007)
Volume 1A: medical criteria for
selection of astronauts, suitability of
astronauts for long-duration space
flight, and selection of payload
specialists (PS)
• Volume 1B: elements of the astronaut
annual medical exam and the
medical exam for short-duration
space flights (less than 30 days)
• Volume 2A: Standards for the
selection of crewmembers for
International Space Station (ISS)
missions.
• Volume 2B: elements of the astronaut
exam for long-duration space flights
•
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The next evolution:
NASA Crewmember Medical Standards
• OCHMO
owned document
• Replaces AMERD
Volume 1: Selection and Periodic
Certification
Volume 2: Medical Evaluation
• The standards are intended to
complement the overall set of
Space Flight Human System
Standards (SFHSS)
Vol 1 – Crew Health
Vol 2 – Habitability and
Environmental Health
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
13 Feb. 2008 --- Astronaut Leland
Melvin, STS-122 mission specialist,
works the controls of the station's
robotic Canadarm2 in the Destiny
laboratory
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Multilateral Medical Operations
•
Medical Operations authorized by
international partner agreements
•
Collaborative in nature
•
Partner agencies have full
representation on all boards
19 June 2007 --- Backdropped over a cloud-covered
part of Earth, Space Shuttle Atlantis is featured in
this image photographed by an Expedition 15
crewmember after the shuttle undocked from the
International Space Station
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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ISS Medical Boards and Panels
• The
ISS Multilateral Medical
Operations Panel directs the
development of the medical
standards for selection of
ISS Crewmembers and
Space Flight Participants
• The ISS Multilateral Medical
Operations Panel and the
ISS Multilateral Space
Medicine Board review and
approve standards
• The highest medical
(8 April 2008) --- NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson,
authority is the Multilateral Expedition 16 commander; Garrett Reisman (right)
and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yuri
Medical Policy Board
Malenchenko, both flight engineers, pose for a photo
in the Zvezda Service Module of the International
Space Station.
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Multilateral Medical Operations Panel (MMOP)
MMOP develops
• Common
25 Dec. 2007--- The Expedition 16
crewmembers pose for a Christmas
photo in the Zvezda Service Module of
the International Space Station.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
medical standards
• Certification criteria
• Medical care requirements
• Preventive medicine
guidelines
• Operational
countermeasures
• Medical hardware
responsibilities
• Environmental monitoring
requirements
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Multilateral Space Medicine Board (MSMB)
• ISS
Board with authority and responsibility for final
medical certification and periodic recertification of
crewmembers, after they are medically certified and
recommended by the medical organization of their
agency.
• MSMB reviews complete medical information on
astronauts and cosmonauts, including those
assigned to long-duration ISS expeditions as well as
all individuals on ISS-visiting spacecraft (visiting
crew & space flight participant)
• Also ensures MMOP-endorsed flight surgeons have
met the established credentialing standards.
• Membership is comprised of a physician from each
Partner agency.
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Transition to Medical Evaluation Documents MED
Volumes A, B, & C
The MED volumes document the medical
standards for ISS crewmembers and
traces its heritage directly to the AMERD
•
The Multilateral Space Medicine Board
uses these standards for certification
•
MED Volume A contains the medical
standards for selection and periodic
evaluation of crewmembers for long
duration flight on ISS missions
•
MED Volume B contains the elements
of examinations of ISS crew members
assigned to long duration space flights
•
MED Volume C includes the medical
standards for Space Flight
Participants
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(24 Nov. 2007) --- Astronaut Peggy
Whitson, Expedition 16
commander, participates in a
session of extravehicular activity
(EVA)
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MED Volume C: Standards for Medical
Evaluation of Space Flight Participants (SFPs)
Details the medical evaluation
requirements and standards to be used
by the MSMB in medical certification of
ISS SFPs
• Transported by Soyuz to ISS for
commercial visitation or other purposes
• Generally fare-paying passengers
• Short-term habitation~ less than 30 days
• Will be trained in all applicable
emergency and egress procedures
• Were developed from the Space Flight
Participant Class IV standards
The Space Shuttle Discovery
STS-120 crew head toward
Earth-orbit and the
International Space Station
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Objective for MED Volume C
The medical evaluation of Space Flight
Participants is to identify candidates who:
•
Are at low risk for medical conditions that
could potentially require emergency
medical treatment or compromise mission
operations
•
Are capable of performing an
uncompromised emergency escape
•
Free of physical deformities that would
prohibit normal use of flight equipment
•
Are capable of participating in any
required pre-flight training or in
conditions that may not be normal mission
conditions
•National
MED
Vol C published
Aeronautics and Space Administration
in ASEM 12/07
18 Feb. 2008--- Backed by the blackness of
space, the International Space Station is seen
from Space Shuttle Atlantis as the two spacecraft
begin their relative separation.
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The Evolution of Space Flight Participation
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ISS Space Flight Participants
• Six
SFPs have flown since Dennis Tito’s first flight
in2001
• One, Greg Olsen, permitted his medical evaluation to
be published in ASEM to benefit the emerging
commercial space flight industry
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FAA Human Space Flight Requirements for
Crew and Space Flight Participants (December
15, 2006)
Medical Standards for Crew: requires that each crew member with a safetycritical role possess and carry an FAA second-class airman medical
certificate issued in accordance with 14 CFR part 67 and issued no more
than 12 calendar months prior to the month of launch and re-entry.
•
No medical certification guidelines for space flight participants
•
Provides guidance for crew members’ training requirements
•
Before receiving compensation or agreeing to fly a space flight participant, an
operator must inform each space flight participant in writing about the risks of
the launch and reentry, including the safety record of the launch or reentry
vehicle type.
•
For each mission, an operator must inform a space flight participant, in writing,
of the known hazards and risks that could result in a serious injury, death,
disability, or total or partial loss of physical and mental function.
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