Entry, Descent & Landing

10 articles tagged · 1 topic · 4 clinical · 1 equipment · 4 research

SMF-T-0011 · draft

Orthostatic Intolerance on Landing

Difficulty maintaining blood pressure when upright after return to gravity, causing lightheadedness or presyncope.

Gravity FieldsCardiovascular

Clinical articles (4)

SMF-C-0002 · protocol · draft

SFP screening

How to approach a patient who wants to fly as a paying passenger: what the FAA does and does not require, what published guidance recommends, and which conditions deserve a closer look.

◆◆◇◇ Low · E A F

SMF-C-0010 · topic · draft

Emergencies & evacuation

What medical care is actually available on a spacecraft, who provides it, how evacuation works from orbit, and why the model changes completely for lunar and Mars missions.

◆◆◆◇ Moderate · F E C

SMF-C-0008 · protocol · draft

Orthostatic intolerance on landing

Why returning space travelers get lightheaded or faint when they stand, how agencies prevent it (fluid/salt loading, compression garments, recumbent seating), and how to assess and treat it in the ED or clinic.

◆◆◆◇ Moderate · F A E

SMF-C-0007 · protocol · draft

Space motion sickness

Who gets space motion sickness, how it is graded, why promethazine is NASA's treatment of choice, what else is used, and how to manage the same symptoms after landing.

◆◆◆◇ Moderate · F E

Equipment guides (1)

SMF-E-0002 · reference · draft

Mission Medical Kits

What medical equipment, drugs and supplies are carried on suborbital flights, short commercial orbital flights, a low Earth orbit station, lunar and Gateway missions, and Mars-class missions, and how distance, duration, drug shelf life and the loss of evacuation change the kit.

◆◆◆◇ Moderate · F C E

Research pages (4)

RSK-08 · NASA risk · draft

Earth-independent operations

Far from Earth, a small crew must handle problems without real-time help from Mission Control. Vehicle, software, training and task design have to support that.

◆◆◇◇ Low · F E

RSK-10 · NASA risk · draft

Cardiovascular adaptations

Weightlessness shifts fluids toward the head and deconditions the heart and vessels, causing light-headedness on landing. Whether space radiation adds long-term heart disease risk is unresolved.

◆◆◇◇ Low · F A M E

RSK-13 · NASA risk · draft

Sensorimotor & balance

The brain re-tunes balance and orientation for weightlessness. That causes motion sickness and clumsiness around gravity changes, just when landing and early surface work demand the most.

◆◆◆◇ Moderate · F E

RSK-15 · NASA risk · draft

Launch & landing loads

Launch, landing and abort forces can injure crew, especially deconditioned crew. Today's injury standards are borrowed from car and military testing.

◆◆◇◇ Low · F E