In a paper published today in Nature, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) has presented health data from the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight mission. TRISH, led by Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Space Medicine in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggests that short-duration spaceflights pose no significant health risks to private astronauts. The research aims to establish an open biomedical database for commercial astronauts’ health data and best practices for collecting and processing this information.
The Inspiration4 mission launched on September 15, 2021, and returned three days later. During its time in low-earth orbit (LEO), the four crew members were exposed to hazards similar to those aboard the International Space Station, including radiation exposure, sustained microgravity, confinement, and isolation. The mission provided insights into the human body’s initial response to these stressors.
Over 100,000 health-related data points were collected during the mission. These will contribute to a knowledge base on human health and performance in space and aim to improve healthcare on future spaceflights and Earth. Researchers emphasize that more data collection is needed due to the small sample size of this initial dataset.
“Inspiration4 was the first opportunity to employ biomedical research methods on a spaceflight crewed entirely by private astronauts,” said Dr. Emmanuel Urquieta, TRISH’s chief medical officer and assistant professor at Baylor’s Center for Space Medicine. “Civilian participants have different educational backgrounds and medical conditions compared to astronauts with career-long exposure to spaceflight.”
The Nature paper is based on environmental and biomedical data as well as biological samples collected before, during, and after the Inspiration4 mission. These datasets include human biometrics, virome analysis, cognitive performance metrics, spacecraft environment data, and multi-omics assays stored in TRISH’s EXPAND database.
“The data and biosamples represent the first of many commercial spaceflight missions,” said Jimmy Wu, TRISH deputy director and chief engineer at Baylor. “The research from Inspiration4 will inform future medical research aimed at improving astronaut health both in space and on Earth.”
Biomedical tests conducted during Inspiration4 included portable ultrasound measurements, cognitive tests, physiological data from smartwatches, skin swabs and biopsies, blood tests, and saliva testing.
“Frequent space travel is on the horizon,” said Dr. Dorit Donoviel of TRISH. “We must ensure scientific research in space is performed accurately and safely for everyone.”
Other contributing authors from Baylor College of Medicine include Dr. Eric Bershad from the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery as well as Dr. Mohammad Hirzallah from the Department of Neurology.
