science

Space nursing

Space nursing is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Space nursing rather than just read about it. In short: Space nursing is a specialty that works with astronauts to determine medical fitness for their missions, equips NASA team members to handle emergencies in orbit and researches the effects of space travel on the human body. The career got its start during the space race of the 1960s and has grown—both in terms of number of people in the field and knowledge base—ever since.

Key takeaways

Space nursing belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Space nursing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Space nursing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Space nursing is a specialty that works with astronauts to determine medical fitness for their missions, equips NASA team members to handle emergencies in orbit and researches the effects of space travel on the human body. The career got its start during the space race of the 1960s and has grown—both in terms of number of people in the field and knowledge base—ever since. Research conducted by medical professionals in the aeronautics field has led to many breakthroughs in disease treatment of earthbound patients and the discipline continually develops new technology to make space medicine more effective.

History Since the beginning of commercial aviation in the 1920s, nurses have been part of aviation and flight. In 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act to form NASA. Part of this act was to recruit nurses to work closely with medical teams to determine the health of astronauts prior to launch. Following their return, nurses assisted with performing medical assessments to determine the effects of space travel on the mission team.

First space nurses Lt Dolores "Dee" O'Hara (born 1935) and Lt Shirley Sineath were the first nurses assigned to work with the seven Project Mercury astronauts. Lieutenant O'Hara was the official staff nurse while Lieutenant Sineath was assigned as a surgical nurse on the recovery team.[5] Before her career with NASA, O’Hara worked as a registered nurse in the labor and delivery ward of Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, FL. In 1959, she was called into the office of Colonel Knauf (the commander of the hospital). Knauf offered her a job as a nurse for Project Mercury and she accepted. Part of the reason O'Hara was selected for the team was so that she could gain the trust of the astronauts. NASA figured if the astronauts trusted their nurses, they would inform them when they were feeling ill—something they wouldn't tell their flight surgeons for fear that their flight would be grounded. In an interview conducted in 2002, O’Hara described her job as being to "go aboard recovery ships…be available [to] set up little hospitals aboard ships, should there be a problem upon landing" and to "put together these medical kits and everything that people on board the ships would need to treat an injured astronaut." Additionally, it was O'Hara's responsibility to perform the pre-flight physicals, which included height, weight, temperatures and blood pressure measurements.[3] Following her career as a nurse to astronauts, O'Hara transferred to a role as manager of the Human Research Facility at Ames Research center in 1974, where she worked until her retirement in 1997.

Present day space nursing

Career path and necessary qualifications In 1962 NASA announced the Space Nursing Program, which required applicants to have a previous bachelor's degree in nursing, a requirement that has remained to the present day. There are 2 main categories of career paths to working in aerospace medicine at NASA. The military route involves enlistment in either the US Air Force—which offers a residency program for aerospace medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio—or US Navy (which offers a similar program at The Naval Aerospace Medical Institute in Pensacola, Florida). The civilian path entails courses at a university or institution, followed by a month-long clerkship at NASA, which they offer to medical students in their fourth year. Wright State University, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Mayo Clinic are currently the only entities in the US with aerospace medicine programs.

Medical complications surrounding space travel

Problems emerging during or upon return from space flight Lightheadedness Deterioration of proprioception (ability to sense the movement and location of ones body) Slower wound healing Immune system suppression Muscle atrophy Reduction in bone density Facial swelling Height increase Low blood pressure Fainting Blurred vision Poor nutrition: weight loss, dehydration Disruption to sleep patterns Fatigue Poor coordination Possible decreased fertility

Complications that can develop years later Cancer due to radiation Hyperthyroidism Cataracts

Future

Technology There are many new devices and techniques, either in the process of research and development or already in use, to improve space medicine. A few examples are:

Remote/telepresence surgery- a surgeon on earth controls robotic instruments that are physically performing the surgery in space Computer-Assisted Design and Computer Assisted Manipulation (CAD-CAM)- medical supplies assembled by technology using specification data contained on board or communicated from Earth Telemedicine- high quality pictures of injuries or symptoms experienced in orbit sent to a doctor on Earth who is then able to diagnose and recommend treatment without being physically present Devices that make medicine- the shelf life of many pharmaceuticals are not long enough to remain viable for long-term missions. Researchers are considering technology that manufactures drugs from stored substrates as they are needed by astronauts.

Implications on earthly medicine In 2018, Dr. Serena Auñón-Chancellor completed a six-month space expedition to collect samples of her body fluids to be analyzed on earth. Her research has led to new knowledge and possible treatment breakthroughs for osteoporosis, Parkinson's, cancer and fertility.

See also Space Nursing Society Space medicine

References

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Space nursing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Space nursing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Space nursing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Space nursing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Space nursing

In research: Space nursing appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Space nursing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Space nursing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Human spaceflight, Space nursing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Space nursing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Space nursing in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Space nursing means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Space nursing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Space nursing in simple terms?

Why does Space nursing matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Space nursing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Space nursing.