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 various periods in bed to simulate spaceflight, 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.

Countermeasure and Functional Testing Study (CFT)
70-day trial to study healthy non-smokers aged 25-55 as if they were in space without gravity, to determine if exercise machines contribute to cardiovascular and metabolic health.  Use of vertical treadmill and resistance lifting in between periods of head down tilt bed rest with specific diet will determine which mission tasks might be affected by changes in physiology during space flight. All studies pays $160 per day.

Alternate Compression Garment Study (ACG)
34-day trial to determine effectiveness of compression garments on regulating blood pressure and other systems after bed rest. Participants in the experimental group will wear custom-fit compression garments and undergo evaluation on their response to an upright tilt test and a corresponding set of physiological measures. These participants will be compared to another group of participants who did not wear the garments. Results of the study will help scientists determine the time it takes for the cardiovascular system to re-adapt to upright posture.

Project owners + coordinators:
LaRona Smith, NASA official
Human Test Subject Facility