/ ite Science* in the Space Program 



• Increase the support of life sciences research projects at universities and 

 other research institutions. A special emphasis should be placed on 

 involving students in space research. The objective is to expand the base of 

 life scientists participating in NASA programs and to assure that America 

 can retain its competitiveness in space research. 



• Enhance the accessibility of space to life sciences researchers by increasing 

 flight opportunities and broadening the base of the Agency's contact with 

 the entire spectrum of life sciences research. 



Conclusions 



NASA should support a vigorous program of flight projects to address strategic 

 objectives. Specifically, it should: 



• Develop a recoverable, reusable space platform that has a variable-gravity 

 facility, can support a variety of flight experiments, and is designed for rapid 

 turnaround. This capsule should be launched by a reliable, expendable 

 vehicle. 



• Allocate a greater number of Shuttle middeck lockers to life sciences 

 experimentation and/or explore the use of Spacelab for that purpose. 



• Increase the flight rate (priority) of Spacelab and dedicate a larger percentage 

 of space, time, and resources to life sciences issues. 



• Recognize the vital importance of the Space Station to the strategic objectives 

 of the life sciences and allocate sufficient Space Station resources to those 

 ends. Design the Space Station to include laboratories for clinical and 

 biological research. 



• Develop instrumentation for the remote determination of the environment, 

 particularly cosmic radiation, and place those instruments on all appropriate 

 spacecraft, especially geosynchronous and interplanetary. 



• Develop instrumentation for noninvasive monitoring of the physiological 

 status of subjects with an accuracy at least equal to that available with 

 current invasive techniques. 



Reference List 



Alexander, Joseph K., Philip C. Johnson, PerdvaJ I). McCormack, David ( \agel. 

 Sam L. Pool, M. Rhea Seddon, Joseph C. Sharp, and Frank M. Sulzman. 

 January 1987. Advanced Missions with Humans in Space. No city of publication 

 given: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 



' onnors, Mary M., Albert A. Harrison, and l-'aren K. Akins. 1985. Living Aloft: 

 Human Requirements for Extended Spaceflight. NASA SP-483. Washington, DC: 

 National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 





