Help NASA get astronauts to the Moon and Mars. Future space exploration will challenge NASA to answer many critical questions about how humans can live and work for extended missions away from Earth. Currently, researchers are working to reduce the effects of space flight on the human body. To accomplish this, researchers study healthy test subjects from the general population on Earth, in a way that causes some of the changes the body goes through while traveling in space without gravity. By eliciting on Earth physiologic responses similar to those experienced by the human body in space, scientists can test and refine theories and procedures to deepen our understanding and develop countermeasures to protect humans from the effects of space travel.
In the Flight Analogs Project investigations, volunteers are in a controlled research environment, spending 21 to 87 days in bed, in the Flight Analog Research Center located within the General Clinical Research Center at the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston, Texas). Individuals selected for screening will receive a physical examination at no cost. Once medically qualified, subjects will be compensated for their time spent for the required psychological assessment and any additional screening. Researchers monitor how the subjects’ bodies change over the course of the study and how quickly they recover once they are allowed to resume normal activities. Two primary goals of the studies are (1) to determine which systems in the body react to the simulated limited gravity environment in the same manner that the astronauts’ bodies change in space and (2) to develop new and novel ways of preventing the adverse changes seen in the flight analogs. The methods used to prevent these adverse changes are called countermeasures and if successful, they will lead the way to new methods of counteracting the adverse effects of space travel on our astronauts.
Bed Rest Study
In order to study a person for 87 days as if they were in space without gravity, NASA scientists use head down tilt bed rest. Participants must be nonsmokers who are in good health with no history of cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, or musculoskeletal problems.
Lunar Analog Feasibility Study
Just as head down tilt bed rest has been used to study the effects of microgravity on the human body, NASA scientists are finding ways to simulate lunar gravity on Earth in the Flight Analogs Research Unit by using a head-up tilt bedrest model for a 21-day study. Daily tasks and exercises will be performed to simulate life on the moon. Participants must be 24 – 50 years of age and in general good health.
Project owners + coordinators:
Todd Schlegel, NASA official
Human Test Subject Facility
posted on Oct 29, 2009:
I’ve done this study (and two others for NASA) – this is an amazing way to contribute to the space program. Screening is tough, but you’ll really find out what you’re made of, and we had a blast!
On top of the daily pay, you are not running up utility, gasoline or shopping bills the way you would be at home. All food is provided. I can make more at my regular IT job, certainly… but the compensation is deeper than just the surface rate… AND, this was a chance to make a genuine contribution to the science of manned space-flight. Questions need to be answered before we’ll make it to Mars.
The dedicated and amazing scientists at NASA facilities are studying physiological aspects of what happens during weightlessness, and bedrest at a -6 degree angle mimics much of what happens to the skeletal, vascular and vestibular systems. This is not merely “lying around all day” for no reason; the microgravity study is very busy with testing… and you will not break your bones with normal activity afterward as many people think. My rehab was pretty short and within only a few months, I signed up for the lunar gravity study.
I went through STACKS of books I’d been meaning to read for years, also made some great friends, and we enjoyed games, arts & crafts, etc. Plus constant massages! The workers there line up movie nights, lectures by Johnson Space Center scientists; and the United Space Alliance even came to see us! I met two astronauts, an Apollo flight director, saw the Lunar Rover up close, and got some NASA t-shirts that are only available to employees. It was incredible. One of the best experiences of my life, and I’ll keep doing these as long as I keep qualifying.