Staying Healthy in Space

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

This post and podcast are for informational purposes only, and are not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional with any medical questions. Photo courtesy of Cooper and O'Hara Photography, and used with permission. Like her fellow medical professionals, Dr. Shawna Pandya is focused on keeping patients healthy. Unlike many of her colleagues, though, she has to take space dust, zero gravity and radiation into account. And as she practices space medicine, she's experienced some of the circumstances her patients will encounter. Besides being a physician, Dr. Pandya is a citizen-scientist astronaut with Boulder, Colorado-based Project PoSSUM. This 501c nonprofit uses astronautics to study the role of our upper atmosphere in climate change. {"PoSSUM" is an acronym for "Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere". In 2015, Dr. Pandya completed her citizen-astronaut training. She was a member of Project PoSSUM's first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero gravity. And today, she serves as Director of Space Medicine for Project PoSSUM. A multifaceted career She is also Vice-President of Immersive Medicine at Sasketchewan-based virtual-reality pioneer Luxsonic Technologies Inc. In addition, she serves as Director of Medical Research at Orbital Assembly Corporation, the world's first large-scale space-construction company. And "so much more", as Dr. Pandya says. She's a chief instructor in Operational Space Medicine for the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences....Medical Advisor for Mission Space Food...a physician with Alberta Health Services... And, as you'll see on her website, she's currently working on obtaining her pilot's license, is an aquanaut and has given multiple TEDx speeches. Dr. Pandya talked about the conisderations of space medicine, what's involved in keeping the crew healthy, and what's next for her, as a citizen-science astronaut. On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover: What first inspired Dr. Pandya's passion for space science; Why "space is trying to kill you", as Dr. Pandya says; What it's like to be in zero gravity! What's involved in mitigaing some of the health risks of space; What Dr. Pandya might pack for travel to the Moon or to Mars; How a medical emergency might be handled, if one occurs in space; A look at the virtual-reality space-medicine training program Dr. Pandya has created, with Luxsonic; Technologies; What the results of Dr. Pandya's space-medicine research can mean, for maintaining good health on Earth; What's next in Dr. Pandya's journey, as a citizen-science astronaut.