Life Sciences in the Space Program 



• Functional changes in immunology and susceptibility to infectious diseases 

 should be correlated with any qualitative or quantitative changes in 

 hematopoietic cell lines. 



Logistic and Policy Strategies 



• NASA should give biomedical research the highest priority in its prepara- 

 tions for future missions, particularly for manned missions of long duration. 



• NASA should have an active role in the Federal Coordinating Committee in 

 Science and Technology. 



• Better integration should be achieved between NASA biomedical research 

 programs and the physical science programs; this integration should relate to 

 spacecraft and Space Station design, as well as to planning of specific 

 experiments in biomedicine. 



• The numbers of flights and flight crew personnel available for biomedical 

 research should be increased. 



• A national laboratory in space should be established as part of the Space 

 Station and any lunar or Mars base; this laboratory should have designated, 

 well-equipped facilities available to make the full range of measurements 

 required for clinical research. 



• NASA should provide better publicity for its biomedical programs. Con- 

 sideration should be given, for example, to annual meetings cosponsored by 

 NASA and the National Institutes of Health on such topics as "Man on 

 Mars" or "Man in a Space Station." Such efforts should be well publicized 

 in the extramural scientific community. 



• Consideration should be given to developing a program involving Special- 

 ized Center of Research (SCOR) units in space medicine. 



— This approach should be aimed at developing a number of centers that 

 could be funded for 5 years on a renewing basis similar to the SCOR 

 program at the National Institutes of Health, with a total dollar cost of at 

 least $10-$15 million/year. 



— Such centers should concentrate on multidisciplinary efforts and work that 

 can proceed regardless of delays in flight opportunities. 



• Closer ties should be fostered between biomedical researchers at NASA and 

 a broad range of extramural biomedical scientists. 



— Consideration should be given to expanded peer-review committees and 

 external advisory panels and a more formalized and better publicized 

 extramural grants program. 



— Given the extent of biomedical research conducted by foreign space 

 agencies (16), extramural scientists should be encouraged to work with 

 members of the scientific community of the European Space Agency, the 

 National Space Development Agency of Japan, and the Soviet Space 

 Agency, as well as NASA, and NASA should facilitate these interactions. 



so 



