Powerful forces conspired against you - in particular, gravity. If an object above the Earth's surface wants to fly freely, it must literally shoot upwards at speeds in excess of 43,000 kilometers per hour. This entails large financial costs.

For example, it took nearly $200 million to launch the Curiosity rover to Mars. And if we talk about a mission with crew members, then the amount will increase significantly.

The reusable use of flying ships will help save money. Rockets, for example, were designed to be reusable, and as we know, there are already successful landing attempts.

2. Flight

Flying through space is easy. It's a vacuum, after all; nothing slows you down. But when launching a rocket, difficulties arise. The greater the mass of an object, the more force is needed to move it, and rockets have a huge mass.

Chemical propellants are great for initial boost, but precious kerosene burns up in minutes. Impulse acceleration will make it possible to fly to Jupiter in 5-7 years. That's a hell of a lot of in-flight movies. We need a radical new method for developing airspeed.

Congratulations! You have successfully launched a rocket into orbit. But before you break out into space, a piece of an old satellite will appear out of nowhere and crash into your fuel tank. That's it, there are no more rockets.

This is a space junk problem, and it's very real. The "American Surveillance Network" for outer space has detected 17,000 objects - each the size of a ball - rushing around the Earth at speeds greater than 28,000 km per hour; and nearly 500,000 more debris smaller than 10 cm. Launch adapters, lens caps, even a splash of paint can bleed through critical systems.

Whipple's shields - layers of metal and Kevlar - can protect you from tiny parts, but nothing can save you from a whole satellite. There are about 4,000 of them in Earth orbit, most of them killed in the air. Flight control helps avoid dangerous paths, but it's not perfect.

Pushing them out of orbit is not realistic - it would take an entire mission to get rid of just one dead satellite. So now all the satellites will fall out of orbit on their own. They will blast extra fuel overboard and then use rocket boosters or a solar sail to head down to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

4. Navigation

The "Deep Space Network", antennas in California, Australia, and Spain, are the only navigational tool for space. Everything that launches into space, from student project satellites to the New Horizons probe roaming the Kopeyre Belt, depends on them.

But with more missions, the network gets crowded. The switchboard is often busy. So in the near future, NASA is working to lighten the load. Atomic clocks on the ships themselves would cut transmission times in half, allowing distances to be calculated with a single transmission of information from space. And increasing the bandwidth of lasers will process large data packets such as photos or video messages.

But the farther the rockets get from the Earth, the less reliable this method becomes. Sure, radio waves travel at the speed of light, but transmissions into deep space still take hours. And the stars may show you the direction, but they are too far away to tell you where you are.

Deep space navigation expert Joseph Ginn wants to design an autonomous system for future missions that would collect images of targets and nearby objects and use their relative positions to triangulate spacecraft coordinates without requiring any ground control.

It will be like GPS on Earth. You put a GPS receiver on your car and the problem is solved.

5. Radiation

Outside the safe cocoon of Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, cosmic radiation awaits you, and it's deadly. Besides cancer, it can also cause cataracts and possibly Alzheimer's disease.

When subatomic particles hit the aluminum atoms that make up the spacecraft's hull, their nuclei explode, releasing more ultra-fast particles called secondary radiation.

Solution? One word: plastic. It's light and strong, and it's full of hydrogen atoms whose small nuclei don't produce much secondary radiation. NASA is testing a plastic that can mitigate radiation in spacecraft or space suits.

Or how about this word: magnets. Scientists at the Space Radiation Shield Superconductivity Project are working on magnesium diboride, a superconductor that would deflect charged particles away from a ship.

6. Food and water

Last August, astronauts on the ISS ate some lettuce they had grown in space for the first time. But large-scale gardening in zero gravity is tricky. Water floats around in bubbles instead of seeping through the soil, which is why engineers invented ceramic pipes to channel water down to plant roots.

Some vegetables are already quite space-efficient, but scientists are working on a genetically engineered pygmy plum that is less than a meter tall. Proteins, fats and carbohydrates can be replenished through a more varied crop - like potatoes and peanuts.

But all this will be in vain if you exhaust all the water. (The ISS urine and water recycling system needs periodic repairs, and interplanetary crews can't count on adding new parts.) GMOs can help here, too. Michael Flynn, a NASA research engineer, is working on a water filter made from genetically modified bacteria. He compared it to how the small intestine processes what you drink. Basically you are a water recycling system with a useful life of 75 or 80 years.

7. Muscles and bones

Weightlessness destroys the body: certain immune cells are unable to do their job, and red blood cells explode. This contributes to kidney stones and makes your heart lazy.

Astronauts on the ISS train to fight muscle wasting and bone loss, but they're still losing bone mass in space, and those weightless spin cycles don't help other problems. Artificial gravity would fix all that.

In his laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, former astronaut Lawrence Young conducts tests on a centrifuge: the test subjects lie on their side on a platform and pedal with their feet on a stationary wheel, while the entire structure gradually spins around its axis. The resulting force acts on the legs of the astronauts, vaguely resembling a gravitational effect.

Young's simulator is too limited, it can be used for more than an hour or two a day, for constant gravity, the whole spacecraft would have to become a centrifuge.

8. Mental health

When a person has a stroke or heart attack, doctors sometimes lower the patient's temperature by slowing their metabolism to reduce damage from lack of oxygen. It's a trick that could work for astronauts too. Interplanetary travel for a year (at least), living in a cramped spaceship with bad food and zero privacy is a recipe for space madness.

That's why John Bradford says we should sleep while traveling in space. President of the engineering firm SpaceWorks and co-author of a report for NASA on long missions, Bradford believes that cryogenically freezing the crew will cut down on food, water, and keep the crew from mental breakdown.

9. Landing

Planet hello! You have been in space for many months or even several years. The distant world is finally visible through your porthole. All you have to do is land. But you are rolling through frictionless space at 200,000 miles per hour. Oh, yes, and then there is the gravity of the planet.

The landing problem is still one of the most urgent that engineers have to solve. Remember the unsuccessful one on Mars.

10. Resources

When spaceships go on a long journey, they will take supplies from Earth with them. But you can't take everything with you. Seeds, oxygen generators, maybe a few infrastructure building machines. But the settlers will have to do the rest themselves.

Fortunately space is not entirely barren. “Each planet has all the chemical elements, although the concentrations differ,” says Ian Crawford, a planetary scientist at Birkbeck, University of London. The moon has a lot of aluminum. Mars has quartz and iron oxide. Neighboring asteroids are a great source of carbon and platinum ores - and water, once pioneers figure out how to blow up matter in space. If the fuses and drillers are too heavy to take on a ship, they will have to extract the fossils by other methods: melting, magnets, or metal-digesting microbes. And NASA is looking into a 3D printing process to print entire buildings - and there won't be any need to import special equipment.

11. Research

Dogs helped humans colonize the Earth, but they wouldn't survive on. To expand into the new world, we will need a new best friend: a robot.

Planet colonization requires a lot of hard work, and robots can dig all day long without having to eat or breathe. The current prototypes are large and bulky, and can hardly move on the ground. So the robots should not look like us, it could be a light steerable bot with claws in the shape of an excavator bucket designed by NASA to dig ice on Mars.

However, if the work requires dexterity and precision, then human fingers are indispensable. Today's space suit is designed for weightlessness, not for hiking on an exoplanet. NASA's Z-2 prototype has flexible joints and a helmet that gives a clear view of any fine-grained wiring needs.

12. Space is huge

The fastest thing humans have ever built is a probe called Helios 2. It is no longer functional, but if there was sound in space, you would hear it scream, as it is still orbiting the sun at speeds greater than 157,000 mph. This is almost 100 times faster than a bullet, but even at that speed it would take approximately 19,000 years to reach our nearest star, Alpha Centauri. During such a long flight, thousands of generations would change. And hardly anyone dreams of dying of old age in a spaceship.

To conquer time we need energy - a lot of energy. Perhaps you could mine enough helium 3 on Jupiter for fusion (after we invent fusion engines, of course). Theoretically, near-light speeds can be achieved using the energy of annihilation of matter and antimatter, but doing this on Earth is dangerous.

“You would never want to do this on Earth,” says Le Johnson, a NASA technician who works on crazy starship ideas. “If you do this in outer space and something goes wrong, you are not destroying a continent.” Too much? How about solar energy? All you need is a sail the size of Texas.

A much more elegant solution to crack the source code of the universe is with the help of physics. Miguel Alcubierre's theoretical drive would compress space-time in front of your ship and expand behind it so you could move faster than the speed of light.

Mankind will need a few more Einsteins working in places like the Large Hadron Collider to unravel all the theoretical knots. It is possible that we will make some discovery that will change everything, but this breakthrough is unlikely to save the current situation. If you want more discoveries, you must invest more money in them.

13. There is only one Earth

A couple of decades ago, science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson sketched out a future utopia on Mars, built by scientists from an overpopulated, overstressed Earth. His "Martian Trilogy" made a powerful push for colonization. But, in fact, other than science, why do we strive for space?

The need to explore is in our genes, this is the only argument - a pioneering spirit and a desire to know our destiny. “A few years ago, dreams of space exploration occupied our imagination,” recalls NASA astronomer Heidi Hummel. - We spoke the language of brave space explorers, but everything changed after the New Horizons station in July 2015. The entire diversity of the worlds of the solar system has opened up before us.”

But what about the fate and destiny of mankind? Historians know better. The expansion of the West was a land grab, and the great explorers were mostly in it for resources or treasures. Human desire to change places is expressed only in the service of political or economic desire.

Of course, the impending destruction of the Earth can be a stimulus. Deplete the planet's resources, change the climate, and space will become the only hope for survival.

But this is a dangerous line of thought. This creates a moral hazard. People think that if we can start from scratch somewhere on Mars. This is a wrong judgment.

As far as we know, Earth is the only habitable place in the known universe. And if we are going to leave this planet, then this should be our desire, and not the result of a stalemate.

Second half of the 20th century was marked not only by the conduct of theoretical research to find ways to explore outer space, but also by the practical creation and launch of automatic vehicles into near-Earth orbits and to other planets, the first manned flight into space and long-term flights at orbital stations, and the landing of man on the surface of the moon. Theoretical research in the field of space technology and the design of controlled aircraft sharply stimulated the development of many sciences, including a new branch of knowledge - space medicine.

The main tasks of space medicine are the following:

study of the effects of space flight conditions on the human body, including the study of the phenomenology and mechanisms of the occurrence of shifts in physiological parameters in space flight;

development of methods for selection and training of cosmonauts;

Space medicine in its historical development has gone from modeling the factors of space flight in laboratory conditions and during animal flights on rockets and satellites to research related to long-term flights of orbital stations and flights of international crews.

In the formation and development of space biology and medicine in the USSR, the works of the founders of cosmonautics K. E. Tsiolkovsky, F. A. Zander and others, who formulated a number of biological problems, the solution of which was to be a necessary prerequisite for the exploration of outer space by man, were of great importance. The theoretical aspects of space biology and medicine are based on the classical provisions of such founders of natural science as I. M. Sechenov, K. A. Timiryazev, I. P. Pavlov, V. V. Dokuchaev, L. A. Orbeli and others, in whose works the doctrine of the interaction of the organism and the external environment is reflected as a red thread, and the fundamental questions of the adaptation of the organism to changing environmental conditions are developed.

An important role in the formation of a number of provisions and sections of space medicine was played by the work performed in the field of aviation medicine, as well as research carried out on biophysical rockets and spacecraft in the 50-60s.

The practical exploration of outer space with the help of manned flights began with the historic flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, the world's first cosmonaut, on April 12, 1961 on the Vostok spacecraft. We all remember his simple human phrase. “Let's go”, uttered during the launch of the Vostok spacecraft, this phrase succinctly and at the same time quite capaciously characterized the greatest achievement of mankind. Among other things, Yu. A. Gagarin's flight was a test of maturity for both cosmonautics in general and space medicine in particular.

Biomedical studies carried out prior to this flight, and the life support system developed on their basis, provided normal living conditions in the spacecraft cabin, necessary for the astronaut to complete the flight. The system of selection and training of cosmonauts created by that time, the system of biotelemetric monitoring of the state and working capacity of a person in flight and the hygienic parameters of the cabin determined the possibility and safety of flight.

However, all previous work, all the numerous flights of animals on spaceships, could not answer some questions related to human flight. So, for example, before the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, it was not known how weightlessness conditions affect purely human functions: thinking, memory, coordination of movements, perception of the surrounding world, and more. Only the flight of the first man into space showed that these functions do not undergo significant changes in weightlessness. That is why Yu. A. Gagarin is called all over the world the pioneer of "star roads", the man who paved the way for all subsequent manned flights.

In the 20 years that have passed since the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, mankind has steadily and comprehensively continued to explore outer space. And in connection with this glorious anniversary, there is an opportunity not only to analyze today's achievements in space medicine, but also to make a historical digression into the past and preceding decades.

Space flights throughout their development can be conditionally divided into several stages. The first stage is the preparation of a manned flight into outer space; it covered a significant period of time. It was accompanied by such studies as: 1) generalization of data from physiology and aviation medicine, which studied the influence of adverse environmental factors on the organism of animals and humans; 2) carrying out numerous laboratory studies in which some factors of space flight were imitated and their influence on the human body was studied; 3) specially prepared experiments on animals during rocket flights into the upper atmosphere, as well as during orbital flights on artificial Earth satellites.

The main tasks then were aimed at studying the question of the fundamental possibility of manned flight into space and solving the problem of creating systems that ensure that a man stays in the cockpit of a spacecraft during an orbital flight. The fact is that at that time there was a certain opinion of a number of fairly authoritative scientists about the incompatibility of human life with conditions of prolonged weightlessness, since this could allegedly cause significant violations of the function of respiration and blood circulation. In addition, they feared that a person might not be able to withstand the psychological stress of the flight.

moreover, the duration of weightlessness, depending on the flight altitude, ranged from 4 to 10 minutes. An analysis of the results of these studies showed that when flying on rockets, only moderate changes in physiological parameters were observed, manifested in an increase in heart rate and an increase in blood pressure when exposed to accelerations during takeoff and landing of the rocket (with a tendency to normalize or even decrease these indicators during stay in weightlessness). ).

In general, the impact of rocket flight factors did not cause significant disturbances in the physiological functions of animals. Biological experiments with vertical rocket launches have shown that dogs can satisfactorily endure fairly large overloads and short-term weightlessness.

In 1957, the USSR launched the second artificial Earth satellite with the dog Laika. This event was of fundamental importance for space medicine, since for the first time it allowed a highly organized animal to stay in weightlessness for quite a long time. As a result, the animals were found to be satisfactorily tolerant of space flight conditions. Subsequent experiments with six dogs during the flights of the second, third, fourth and fifth Soviet satellite ships returning to Earth made it possible to obtain a lot of material on the reactions of the main physiological systems of the organism of highly organized animals (both in flight and on Earth, including the post-flight period) .

small preserved patches of rabbit and human skin, insects, black and white laboratory mice and rats, guinea pigs. All studies carried out with the help of satellite ships provided extensive experimental material that firmly convinced scientists of the safety of human flight (from the point of view of health) into space.

In the same period, the tasks of creating life support systems for astronauts were also solved - a system for supplying oxygen to the cabin, removing carbon dioxide and harmful impurities, as well as nutrition, water supply, medical control and disposal of human waste products. Specialists of space medicine took the most direct part in these works.

The second stage, coinciding with the first decade of manned flights (1961-1970), was characterized by short-term human space flights (from one orbit in 108 minutes to 18 days). It begins with the historic flight of Yu. A. Gagarin.

The results of biomedical studies carried out during this time have reliably proved not only the possibility of a person being in space flight conditions, but also the preservation of sufficient working capacity for him when performing various tasks in a spacecraft cabin limited in volume and when working in an unsupported space outside the spacecraft. . However, a number of changes were revealed in the motor sphere, the cardiovascular system, the blood system and other systems of the human body.

It was also found that the adaptation of cosmonauts to the usual conditions of terrestrial existence after space flights lasting from 18 days proceeds with certain difficulties and is accompanied by a more pronounced tension of regulatory mechanisms than the astronaut's adaptation to weightlessness. Thus, with a further increase in flight time, it was necessary to create systems of appropriate preventive measures, improve medical control systems and develop methods for predicting the condition of crew members in flight and after it.

During the manned flights under these programs, along with medical studies of the crews, biological experiments were also carried out. So, on board the ships Vostok-3, Vostok-6, Voskhod, Voskhod-2, Soyuz, there were such biological objects as lysogenic bacteria, chlorella, tradescantia, hella cells; human normal and cancer cells, dried plant seeds, turtles.

The third stage of manned space flights is associated with long-term flights of cosmonauts aboard orbital stations; it coincides with the past decade (1971-1980). A distinctive feature of manned flights at this stage, in addition to the significant duration of a person's stay in flight, is the increase in the amount of free space in living quarters - from the cockpit of a spacecraft to extensive living areas inside the orbital station. The latter circumstance had a dual significance for space medicine: on the one hand, it became possible to place on board the station a variety of equipment for biomedical research and means of preventing the adverse effects of weightlessness, and on the other hand, to significantly reduce the impact on the human body from factors limiting motor activity - hypokinesia (i.e., associated with the small size of free space).

It should be said that more comfortable living conditions, personal hygiene, etc. can be created at orbital stations. And the use of a complex of preventive measures can significantly smooth out the adverse reactions of the body to weightlessness, which has a great positive effect. However, on the other hand, this, to a certain extent, smooths out the reactions of the human body to weightlessness, which makes it difficult to analyze the shifts that occur for various systems of the human body that are characteristic of weightless conditions.

For the first time, a long-term orbital station (Salyut) was launched in the USSR in 1971. In subsequent years, manned flights were carried out aboard the Salyut-3, -4, -5, -6 orbital stations (moreover, the fourth main expedition of the Salyut- 6” was in space for 185 days). Numerous biomedical studies performed during the flight of orbital stations have shown that with an increase in the duration of a person's stay in space, no progression in the severity of the body's reactions to flight conditions was generally observed.

The complexes of prophylactic measures used ensured the maintenance of a good state of health and working capacity of the cosmonauts during such flights, and also contributed to the smoothing of reactions and facilitated adaptation to terrestrial conditions in the post-flight period. It is important to note that the conducted medical studies did not reveal any changes in the body of the cosmonauts that prevent a systematic increase in the duration of flights. At the same time, from the outside, some body systems were found to have functional changes that are the subject of further consideration.

To date, 99 people from different countries have already made space flights on board 78 spacecraft and 6 long-term orbital stations2. The total travel time was about 8 man-years. As of January 1, 1981, 46 manned space flights had been carried out in the USSR, in which 49 Soviet cosmonauts and 7 cosmonauts from socialist countries participated. Thus, over the course of two decades of manned space flights, the pace and scale of human penetration into outer space has been rapidly increasing.

Next, we consider the main results of space medicine research carried out during this time. During space flights, the human body can be exposed to various adverse factors, which can be conditionally divided into the following groups: 1) characterizing outer space as a kind of physical environment (extremely low barometric pressure, lack of oxygen, ionizing radiation, etc.); 2) due to the dynamics of the aircraft (acceleration, vibration, weightlessness); 3) associated with the stay of astronauts in the pressurized cabin of the spacecraft (artificial atmosphere, dietary habits; hypokinesia, etc.); 4) psychological features of space flight (emotional tension, isolation, etc.).

life support creates the necessary conditions for life and work in the cabin space. An exception in this group of factors is cosmic radiation: during some solar flares, the level of cosmic radiation can increase so much that the cabin walls cannot protect the astronaut from the action of cosmic rays.

and that scientists have not yet learned how to simulate the full spectrum of cosmic radiation under Earth conditions. This naturally creates significant difficulties in studying the biological effect of cosmic radiation and in developing protective measures.

In this direction, various studies are being carried out to create an electrostatic protection for a spacecraft, that is, attempts are being made to create an electromagnetic field around the spacecraft, which will deflect charged particles, preventing them from passing to the cabin. A large amount of work is also carried out in the development of pharmacochemical means for the prevention and treatment of radiation injuries.

Most of the factors of the second group are successfully modeled under the conditions of the terrestrial experiment and have been studied for a long time (vibration, noise, overloads). Their effect on the human body is quite clear, and, consequently, the measures for the prevention of possible disorders are also clear. The weightlessness factor is the most important and specific factor in space flight. It should be noted that in the case of a long-term action, it can only be studied under real flight conditions, since in this case its simulation on Earth is very approximate.

Finally, the third and fourth groups of flight factors are not so much cosmic, but the conditions of space flight contribute so much of their own, inherent only to this type of activity, that the study of the psychological characteristics that arise in this case, as well as work and rest regimes, psychological compatibility and other factors is a separate and very complex problem.

It is quite obvious that the versatility of the problems of space medicine does not allow us to exhaustively consider all of them, and here we will focus only on some of these problems.

Medical control and in-flight medical research

In the complex of measures that ensure the safety of cosmonauts in flight, an important role belongs to medical control, the task of which is to assess and predict the health status of crew members and issue recommendations for preventive and therapeutic measures.

A feature of medical control in space flight is that the "patients" of doctors are healthy, physically well-prepared people. In this case, the task of medical control is mainly to identify functional adaptive changes that may occur in the human body under the influence of space flight factors (primarily weightlessness), to evaluate and analyze these changes, to determine indications for the use of prophylactic agents, and also in; choosing the most optimal modes of their use.

Generalization of the results of medical research in space flights and numerous studies with modeling of flight factors under Earth conditions makes it possible to obtain data on the effect of various loads on the human body, on the permissible limits of fluctuations in physiological parameters, and on the characteristics of the body's reactions under these conditions.

It should be emphasized that such research in space medicine, which refines our knowledge of the normal manifestations of the vital activity of the human body and more clearly draws the line between its normal and altered reactions, is of great importance for identifying the initial signs of deviations not only in spacecraft crews in flight, but also in clinical practice, in the analysis of initial and latent forms of diseases and their prevention.

As sources of information, data from conversations between a doctor and astronauts, astronauts' reports on their well-being and the results of self- and mutual control, analysis of radio conversations (including spectral analysis of speech) are used. Important sources of information are the data of objective recording of physiological parameters, environmental indicators in the cabin of the spacecraft (pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide content, humidity, temperature, etc.), as well as analysis of the results of the most complex ship control operations and scientific and technical experiments. .

With the help of telemetry systems, this information is sent to the flight control center, where it is processed using computers and analyzed by doctors. Physiological parameters to be recorded and transmitted to Earth are determined in accordance with the features of the flight program and the specifics of the crew's activities. When assessing the health status of astronauts, information about the state of the most vital systems of the human body (respiration and blood circulation), as well as changes in the physical performance of astronauts, is of paramount importance.

in an unusual habitat, they help to elucidate the mechanisms of changes in physiological functions and adaptation of the body to conditions of weightlessness. All this is necessary for the development of preventive measures and for planning medical support for subsequent flights.

The volume of medical information transmitted by biotelemetry to the Earth was not the same in different flights. In the first flights under the Vostok and Voskhod programs, when our knowledge of the effect of space flight factors on the human body was very limited, a fairly wide range of physiological parameters was recorded, since it was necessary not only to monitor the health status of astronauts, but also to study it extensively. physiological responses to flight conditions. During flights under the Soyuz program, the number of physiological indicators transmitted to Earth is limited and was optimal for monitoring the health of cosmonauts.

which was before, during flights at the orbital stations, periodic in-depth medical examinations were carried out every 7-10 days. The latter included clinical electrocardiographic examinations (at rest and during functional tests), registration of arterial and venous pressures, study of the phase structure of the cardiac cycle according to kinetocardiography, studies of stroke and minute volume of the heart, pulsed blood supply to various areas of the body (using the rheography method) and a number of other surveys.

As functional tests, a dosed physical load of the cosmonaut's body on a bicycle ergometer ("space bike"), as well as a test with the application of negative pressure to the lower body, were used. In the latter case, with the help of the “Chibis” vacuum set, which is a corrugated “trousers”, negative pressure was created in the lower abdomen and lower extremities, which caused a rush of blood to these areas, similar to that which occurs on Earth during a person’s stay upright.

Such an imitation of a vertical posture makes it possible to obtain additional information about the expected state of the crew in the post-flight period. This circumstance seems to be extremely important, since, as was established in previous flights, a long stay in weightlessness is accompanied by a decrease in the so-called orthostatic stability, which manifests itself as pronounced shifts in the parameters of the cardiovascular system when a person is in an upright position.

At the Salyut-6 orbital station (see table), a person's body weight was measured, the volume of the lower leg was studied, and the state of the vestibular apparatus and the function of external respiration were also studied. During the flight, samples of blood and other body fluids were taken, the microflora of the external integument, human mucous membranes and station surfaces were studied, and air samples were analyzed. Materials taken in flight for research were delivered with visiting expeditions to Earth for detailed analysis.

Research methods in space flights

Spacecraft Launch years Physiological measurement methods

"Easts" 1961-1963 Electrocardiography (1-2 leads, pnemography, seismocardiography and kinetocardiography (characterize the mechanical function of the heart), electrooculography (registration of eye movements), electroencephalography (registration of biocurrents of the cerebral cortex), galvanic skin reflex.

"Sunrise" 1964-1965 Electrocardiography, pneumography, seismocardiography, electroencephalography, registration of motor acts of writing.

single 1967-1970 Electrocardiography, pneumography, seismocardiography, body temperature.

tachooscillography (for measuring blood pressure), phlebography (for recording the jugular vein pulse curve and determining venous pressure, regraphy (for studying the stroke and minute volume of the heart and pulse blood supply to various areas of the body), measuring body weight, shin volume, blood sampling, studying external respiration, microbiological studies, as well as studies of water-salt metabolism, etc.

During long flights on the Salyut-Soyuz orbital complexes, great importance was attached to medical management. Medical management is a part (subsystem) of a more general system "crew - ship - flight control center", and its functions are aimed at maintaining the maximum organization of the entire system as a whole by maintaining the good health of the crew and its necessary performance. To this end, the medical service worked closely with the crew and flight program planners. The working body of control was the medical support group in the flight control center, which entered into mutual contact with the crew, with the advisory and forecasting group and with other groups of the flight control center.

The results of the examinations and the recommendations formed on their basis on the use of prophylactic agents, the regime of work and rest, and other medical measures were systematically discussed with the crew and accepted by them for execution. All this created an atmosphere of benevolence and business-like cooperation between the medical support group and the crew in solving the problem of maintaining the health of the crew in flight and in preparing for its meeting with the Earth.

Means of prevention

a prerequisite for the development of preventive measures and a rational system of medical control in long-term space flights. The data available to date allow us to formulate some working hypotheses that can be considered as a blueprint for further research.

The main link in the pathogenesis of the effect of the weightlessness factor is, apparently, a decrease in the functional load on a number of systems of the human body due to the lack of weight and the associated mechanical stress of body structures. The functional underload of the human body in a state of weightlessness manifests itself, probably, as a change in afferentation from mechanoreceptors, as well as a change in the distribution of liquid media and a decrease in the load on the astronaut's musculoskeletal system and his tonic muscles.

there is always a tension of structures due to the force of weight. At the same time, a large number of muscles, as well as ligaments, some joints, counteracting this trend, are constantly under load, regardless of the position of the human body. Under the influence of weight, the internal organs also tend to shift towards the Earth, stretching the ligaments that fix them.

Numerous nerve perceiving devices (receptors) located in muscles, ligaments, internal organs, blood vessels, etc., send impulses to the central nervous system, signaling the position of the body. The same signals come from the vestibular apparatus located in the inner ear, where carbon dioxide salt crystals (stolites), shifting the nerve endings under the influence of their weight, signal the movement of the body.

However, during a long flight and its indispensable attribute - weightlessness - the weight of the body and its individual parts is absent. The receptors of muscles, internal organs, ligaments, blood vessels, while in weightlessness, work, as it were, “in a different way”. Information about the position of the body comes mainly from the visual analyzer, and the interaction of space analyzers developed throughout the development of the human body (vision, vestibular apparatus, muscle sensation, etc.) is disrupted. Muscle, tone and load on the muscular system as a whole are reduced, since there is no need to resist them with the force of weight.

As a result, in zero gravity, the total volume of impulses from the perceiving elements (receptors), which goes to the central nervous system, decreases. This leads to a decrease in the activity of the central nervous system, which, in turn, affects the regulation of internal organs and other functions of the human body. However, the human body is an extremely plastic structure, and after a certain time of a person's stay in a state of weightlessness, his body adapts to these conditions, and the work of internal organs is already taking place at a new, different (compared to the Earth) functional level of interaction between systems.

due to its weight tends to the underlying parts of the body (legs, lower abdomen). In this regard, the astronaut's body develops a system of mechanisms that prevent such a movement. In weightlessness, there is no force, except for the energy of the heart impulse, which would contribute to the movement of blood to the lower parts of the body. As a result, there is a rush of blood to the head and chest organs.

veins and atria. This is the reason for the signal to the central nervous system about the inclusion of mechanisms that help reduce excess fluid in the blood. As a result, a number of reflex reactions occur, leading to an increase in the excretion of fluid, and with it, salts from the body. Ultimately, body weight may decrease and the content of some electrolytes, in particular potassium, may change, as well as the state of the cardiovascular system.

The redistribution of blood apparently plays a certain role in the development of vestibular disorders (cosmic form of motion sickness) in the initial period of stay in weightlessness. However, the leading role here still belongs, probably, to the violation of the well-coordinated work of the sense organs in conditions of weightlessness, which carry out spatial orientation.

to a corresponding change in the so-called anti-gravity muscles, a decrease in their tone, atrophy. A decrease in muscle tone and strength, in turn, contributes to a deterioration in the regulation of the vertical posture and a violation of the astronaut's gait in the post-flight period. At the same time, the restructuring of the motor stereotype in the process may also be the cause of these phenomena.

The above ideas about the mechanism of change in some functions of the human body under weightless conditions are, of course, rather schematic, and have not yet been experimentally confirmed in all their links. We have carried out these discussions only with the aim of showing the interconnectedness of all the functions of the astronaut's organism, when changes in one link cause a whole range of reactions of various systems. On the other hand, it is important to emphasize the reversibility of changes, the wide possibilities for adapting the human body to the action of the most unusual environmental factors.

The described changes in the functions of the astronaut's body in a state of weightlessness can be considered as a reflection of the adaptive reactions of a person to new conditions of existence - to the absence of weight force. Naturally, these changes largely determine the corresponding reactions on the part of the human body that take place when an astronaut returns to Earth and during the subsequent adaptation of his body to Earth conditions, or, as doctors say, during readaptation.

The shifts in a number of functions of the cosmonaut's organism revealed after short-term flights into space, progressing with increasing duration of flights, raised the question of developing means of preventing the adverse effects of weightlessness. Theoretically, it could be assumed that the use of artificial gravity (IGF) would be the most radical means of protection against weightlessness. However, the creation of an ICT gives rise to a number of physiological problems associated with being in a rotating system, as well as technical problems that should ensure the creation of an ICT in space flight.

In this connection, researchers, long before the start of space flights, began to search for other ways to prevent adverse changes in the human body during space flight. In the course of these studies, numerous methods for preventing the adverse effects of weightlessness, not related to the use of ICT, were tested. These include, for example, physical methods aimed at reducing the redistribution of blood in the astronaut's body during or after the end of the flight, as well as at stimulating the neuroreflex mechanisms that regulate blood circulation in the vertical position of the body. For this purpose, the application of negative pressure to the lower body, inflatable cuffs applied to the arms and legs, suits for creating a positive pressure difference, rotation on a small radius centrifuge, inertial impact effects, electrical stimulation of the muscles of the lower extremities, elastic and anti-g suits, etc. .

Among other methods of such prevention, we note physical activity aimed at maintaining the fitness of the body and stimulating certain groups of receptors (physical training, load suits, load on the skeleton); impacts associated with the regulation of nutrition (adding salts, proteins and vitamins to food, rationing nutrition and water consumption); purposeful influence with the help of so-called medications and a modified gas environment.

Prophylactic agents against any unfavorable changes in the cosmonaut's body can be effective only if they are prescribed taking into account the mechanism of these disorders. With regard to weightlessness, prophylactic measures should be aimed primarily at replenishing the deficiency of muscle activity, as well as at reproducing the effects that, under Earth conditions, are determined by the weight of blood and tissue fluid.

physical exercises on a treadmill and a bicycle ergometer, as well as strength exercises with expanders; 2) creating a constant load on the musculoskeletal system and skeletal muscles of the astronaut (daily stay for 10-16 hours in load suits); 3) training with the application of negative pressure to the lower body, carried out at the end of the flight; 4) the use of water-salt additives on the day of the end of the flight; 5) the use of a post-flight anti-g suit.

With the help of special suits and a system of rubber shock absorbers, when performing "space charging", a load of 50 kg was created in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the body, as well as a static load on the main groups of anti-gravity muscles.

Physical training was also carried out on a bicycle ergometer - a device similar to a bicycle, but standing still. On it, the astronauts pedaled with their feet or hands, thereby creating an appropriate load on the corresponding muscle groups.

Load suits reproduced a constant static load on the astronaut's musculoskeletal system and skeletal muscles, which to a certain extent compensated for the absence of Earth's gravity. Structurally, the suits are made as semi-adjacent overalls, which include elastic elements such as rubber shock absorbers.

To create negative pressure on the lower part of the body, a vacuum set was used in the form of trousers, which are a hermetic bag on a frame in which vacuum can be created. With a decrease in pressure, conditions are created for the outflow of blood to the legs, which contributes to its distribution, which is typical for a person who is in a vertical position under Earth conditions.

Water-salt supplements were intended to retain water in the body and increase blood plasma volume. The post-flight prophylactic suit, worn under the suit before descent, was designed to create excessive pressure on the legs, which prevents the accumulation of blood in the lower extremities on Earth in a vertical position of the body and favors maintaining normal blood circulation when moving from a horizontal to a vertical position.

Changing the basic functions of the human body in weightlessness

The main result of the study of outer space (from a medical point of view) was the proof of the possibility of not only a long stay of a person in space flight conditions, but also his versatile activities there. This now gives the right to consider outer space as the environment for the future human habitation, and the spacecraft and the flight itself into space as the most effective, direct way to study the reactions of the human body under these conditions. To date, quite a lot of information has been accumulated on the reactions of various physiological systems of the cosmonaut's body in different phases of the flight and in the post-flight period.

A symptom complex outwardly similar to motion sickness (decreased appetite, dizziness, increased salivation, nausea and sometimes vomiting, spatial illusions) is observed in varying degrees of severity in approximately every third cosmonaut and manifests itself in the first 3-6 days of flight. It is important to note that at present it is still impossible to reliably predict the degree of manifestation of these phenomena in cosmonauts in flight. Some cosmonauts also showed signs of motion sickness on the first day after returning to Earth. The development of the symptom complex of motion sickness in flight is currently explained by a change in the functional state of the astronaut's vestibular apparatus and a violation of the interaction of his sensory systems, as well as by hemodynamic features (blood redistribution) under weightless conditions.

The symptom complex of redistribution of blood to the upper part of the body occurs in almost all astronauts in flight, occurs on the first day and then at various times, on average within a week, gradually smoothes out (but does not always completely disappear). This symptom complex is manifested by a sensation of a rush of blood and heaviness in the head, nasal congestion, smoothing of wrinkles and puffiness of the face, an increase in blood supply and pressure in the veins of the neck and indicators of blood filling of the head. The volume of the leg is reduced. The described phenomena are associated with the redistribution of blood due to the lack of its weight in weightlessness, which leads to a decrease in blood accumulation in the lower extremities and an increase in blood flow to the upper body.

some work operations and it is difficult to assess the muscle effort required to perform a number of movements. However, already during the first few days of flight, these movements regain the necessary accuracy, the necessary efforts to perform them decrease, and the efficiency of motor performance increases. When returning to Earth, the weight of objects and one's own body subjectively increases, and the regulation of the vertical posture changes. A post-flight study of the motor sphere in cosmonauts reveals a decrease in the volume of the lower extremities, some loss of muscle mass, and subatrophy of the anti-gravitational muscles, mainly the long and wide muscles of the back.

Changes in the functions of the cardiovascular system during long-term space flights manifest themselves as a tendency to a slight decrease in certain indicators of arterial pressure, an increase in venous pressure in the region of the veins of the neck and its decrease in the region of the lower leg. The ejection of blood during the contraction of the heart (stroke volume) initially increases, and the minute volume of blood circulation tends to exceed the preflight values ​​during the flight. The indicators of blood filling of the head usually increased, their normalization occurred at 3-4 months of flight, and decreased in the lower leg area.

The response of the cardiovascular system to functional tests with the application of negative pressure to the lower body and physical activity underwent some changes in flight. During the test with the application of negative pressure, the astronaut's reactions, in contrast to the terrestrial ones, were more pronounced, which indicated the development of orthostatic detraining phenomena. At the same time, exercise tolerance during six-month flights was assessed as good in almost all surveys, and reactions did not qualitatively differ from the pre-flight period. This indicated that with the help of preventive measures it is possible to stabilize the body's response to functional tests and even in some cases achieve their lesser severity than in the pre-flight period.

In the post-flight period, during the transition from a horizontal to a vertical position, as well as during an orthostatic test (passive vertical position on an inclined table), the severity of reactions is greater than before the flight. This is explained by the fact that under Earth conditions, blood regains its weight and rushes to the lower limbs, and as a result of a decrease in the tone of blood vessels and muscles in astronauts, more blood can accumulate here than usual. As a result, there is an outflow of blood from the brain.

blood pressure may drop sharply, the brain will experience a lack of blood, and therefore oxygen.

salt after the flight. Immediately after flights, the excretion of fluid by the kidneys decreases and the excretion of calcium and magnesium ions, as well as potassium ions, increases. A negative potassium balance combined with an increase in nitrogen excretion probably indicates a decrease in cell mass and a decrease in the ability of cells to fully assimilate potassium. Studies of some kidney functions using stress tests revealed a mismatch in the ionoregulation system in the form of multidirectional changes in the excretion of fluid and some ions. When analyzing the obtained data, one gets the impression that the shifts in the water-salt balance are due to changes in the regulatory systems and hormonal status under the influence of the flight factor.

A decrease in the mineral saturation of the bone tissue (loss of calcium and phosphorus in the bones) was noted in a number of flights. Thus, after 175- and 185-day flights, these losses amounted to 3.2-8.3%, which is significantly less than after prolonged bed rest. Such a relatively small decrease in mineral components in bone tissue is a very significant circumstance, since a number of scientists have considered bone tissue demineralization as one of the factors that can be an obstacle to increasing the duration of space flights.

Biochemical studies have shown that under the influence of long-term space flights, the metabolic processes are reorganized, due to the adaptation of the cosmonaut's body to conditions of weightlessness. In this case, no pronounced changes in metabolism are observed.

and recovers approximately 1-1.5 months after the flight. Studies of the content of erythrocytes in the blood during and after flights are of great interest, since, as is known, the average life span of erythrocytes is 120 days.

blood plasma volume. As a result, compensatory mechanisms are activated, seeking to maintain the basic constants of circulating blood, which leads (due to a decrease in blood plasma volume) to an adequate decrease in erythrocyte mass. A quick recovery of the erythrocyte mass after returning to Earth is impossible, since the formation of erythrocytes occurs slowly, while the liquid part of the blood (plasma) is restored! significantly faster. This rapid restoration of circulating blood volume leads to an apparent further decrease in the red blood cell count, which is restored after 6-7 weeks after the end of the flight.

Thus, the results of hematological studies obtained during and after long-term space flights make it possible to optimistically assess the possibility of an astronaut's blood system adapting to flight conditions and its recovery in the post-flight period. This circumstance is extremely important, since in the special literature the possible hematological changes expected in long-term space flights are considered as one of the problems that can prevent a further increase in the duration of flights.

after the flight. Nevertheless, it must be said that we still do not know everything about the reactions of astronauts in a long flight, we cannot fight against all adverse phenomena. There is still a lot of work to be done in this regard.

Space biology and medicine, as well as cosmonautics in general, could appear only when the scientific and economic potential of the country reached world peaks.

One of the leading experts in space biology and medicine is Academician Oleg Georgievich Gazenko. In 1956, he was included in a group of scientists who were entrusted with the medical support of future space flights. Since 1969, Oleg Georgievich has been the head of the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the USSR Ministry of Health.

O. Gazenko talks about the development of space biology and space medicine, about the problems that its specialists solve.

space medicine

Sometimes people ask: how did space biology and space medicine begin? And in response, you can sometimes hear and read that it began with fears, with questions like: will a person in zero gravity be able to breathe, eat, sleep, etc.?

Of course, these questions arose. But still, the situation was different than, say, in the era of great geographical discoveries, when navigators and travelers set off on a journey without having the slightest idea of ​​what awaited them. We basically knew what awaits a person in space, and this knowledge was quite reasonable.

Space biology and space medicine did not start from scratch. They grew out of general biology, absorbed the experience of ecology, climatology and other disciplines, including technical ones. The theoretical analysis that preceded the flight of Yuri Gagarin was based on data from aviation, marine, and underwater medicine. There were also experimental data.

Back in 1934, first in our country and a little later in the USA, attempts were made to investigate the influence of the upper layers of the atmosphere on living organisms, in particular, on the mechanism of heredity in fruit flies. The first flights of animals - mice, rabbits, dogs - on geophysical rockets date back to 1949. In these experiments, the influence on the living organism was studied not only of the conditions of the upper atmosphere, but also of the rocket flight itself.

The birth of science

It is always difficult to determine the date of birth of any science: yesterday, they say, it did not exist yet, but today it has appeared. But at the same time, in the history of any branch of knowledge there is an event that marks its formation.

And just as, say, the work of Galileo can be considered the beginning of experimental physics, so the orbital flights of animals marked the birth of space biology - everyone probably remembers the dog Laika, sent into space on the second Soviet artificial Earth satellite in 1957.

Then another series of biological tests was organized on satellite ships, which made it possible to study the reaction of animals to space flight conditions, to observe them after the flight, and to study long-term genetic consequences.

So, by the spring of 1961, we knew that a man could make a space flight - a preliminary analysis showed that everything should be safe. And, nevertheless, since it was a question of a person, everyone wanted to have certain guarantees in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Therefore, the first flights were prepared with insurance and even, if you like, with reinsurance. And here it is simply impossible not to recall Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. One can imagine how many things and worries the Chief Designer had when he was preparing the first manned flight into space.

And yet, he delved into all the details of the medical and biological service of the flight, taking care of its maximum reliability. So, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, whose flight was supposed to last an hour and a half and who could generally do without food and water, was given food and other necessary supplies for several days. And they did the right thing.

The reason for this is that we simply lacked information then. We knew, for example, that disorders of the vestibular apparatus could occur in weightlessness, but it was not clear whether they would be the way we imagine them to be.

Another example is cosmic radiation. They knew that it existed, but how dangerous it was, it was difficult to determine at first. In that initial period, the study of outer space itself and the development of it by man went in parallel: not all the properties of the cosmos had yet been studied, and flights had already begun.

Therefore, the radiation protection on the ships was more powerful than actual conditions required. Here I would like to emphasize that scientific work in space biology from the very beginning was put on a solid, academic basis, the approach to the development of these seemingly applied problems was very fundamental.

Development of space biology

Academician V. A. Engelgardt, being at that time Academician-Secretary of the Department of General Biology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, devoted much effort and attention to giving space biology and space medicine a good start.

Academician N. M. Sissakyan helped a lot to expand research and create new teams and laboratories: on his initiative, already in the early 60s, 14 laboratories of various academic institutes were working in the field of space biology and space medicine, strong scientific personnel were concentrated in them.

Academician VN Chernigovsky made a great contribution to the development of space biology and space medicine. As vice-president of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, he attracted many scientists from his academy to the development of these problems.

The direct supervisors of the first experiments in space biology were Academician V. V. Parin, who specifically studied the problems of space physiology, and Professor V. I. Yazdovsky. It is necessary to recall the first director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, Professor A. V. Lebedinsky.

From the very beginning, the work was led by eminent scientists, and this ensured both the good organization of research and, as a result, the depth and accuracy of theoretical prediction, which was perfectly confirmed by the practice of space flights.

Three of them deserve special mention.

- This is a biological experiment on the second artificial satellite, which showed that a living being in a spacecraft can stay in outer space without harm to itself.

- This is the flight of Yuri Gagarin, which showed that space does not have a negative impact on the emotional and mental sphere of a person (and there were such fears), that a person, like on Earth, can think and work in space flight.

- And, finally, this is Alexei Leonov's spacewalk: a man in a special spacesuit was and worked outside the ship and - the main thing that interested scientists - was confidently oriented in space.

The landing of American astronauts on the surface of the Moon should also be included in this series. The Apollo program also confirmed some of the theories developed on Earth.

Confirmed, for example, the nature of human movements on the Moon, where the force of gravity is much less than on Earth. Practice has confirmed the theoretical conclusion that a quick flight through the radiation belts surrounding the Earth is not dangerous for humans.

By "practice" I don't just mean flying people. They were preceded by flights of our automatic stations of the "Luna" and "Zond" type and American "Surveyers", which thoroughly reconnoitered the situation both on the track and on the Moon itself.

On the "Probes", by the way, living beings circled the Moon and safely returned to Earth. So the flight of people to our night star was prepared very fundamentally.

As can be seen from the above examples, the most characteristic feature of the first period of space biology was the search for answers to fundamental questions. Today, when these answers, and rather detailed ones, have been received for the most part, the search has gone deeper, as it were.

The price of space flight

The modern stage is characterized by a more thorough and subtle study of deep, fundamental biological, biophysical, biochemical processes occurring in a living organism during space flight. And not just by studying, but also by trying to manage these processes.

How can this be explained?

The flight of a man into space on a rocket vehicle is not indifferent to the state of the organism. Of course, its adaptive capabilities are unusually large and plastic, but not unlimited.

Moreover, for any adaptation, you always have to pay something. Let's say that the state of health in flight stabilizes, but the efficiency of work will decrease.

You will adapt in weightlessness to "unusual lightness", but you will lose muscle strength and bone strength ... These examples lie on the surface. But, obviously, the deep life processes are subject to this law (and there are confirmations of this). Their adaptation is not so noticeable, in short-term flights it may not manifest itself at all, but after all, flights are becoming longer and longer.

What is the price for such a device? Can I agree with it or is it undesirable? It is known, for example, that the number of erythrocytes, red blood cells that carry oxygen, decreases in the blood of astronauts during a flight. The decrease is insignificant, not dangerous, but it is in a short flight. And how will this process proceed in a long flight?

All this is necessary to know in order to build a preventive defense system and thereby expand the possibilities for a person to live and work in space. And not only for cosmonauts - specially selected and trained people, but also for scientists, engineers, workers, maybe artists.

There is a deepening of the very concept of "space medicine and biology". By design, this is an applied science that develops its own recommendations, its own methods and techniques of human behavior in space on the basis of general biology data. At first it was so. But now it has become clear that space biology and space medicine are not derived from general biology, but the whole of biology as a whole, only studying organisms in special conditions of existence.

Mutual interests of science

After all, everything that a person does on Earth, he begins to do in space: he eats, sleeps, works, rests, people will be born and die in very distant flights - in a word, a person begins to live in space in the full biological sense. And therefore we will not find now, probably, not a single section of biological and medical knowledge that would be indifferent to us.

As a result, the scale of research has increased: if literally a dozen scientists took part in the first steps of space biology and space medicine, now hundreds of institutions and thousands of specialists of the most diverse and sometimes unexpected, at first glance, profile have entered its orbit.

Here is an example: the Institute of Organ and Tissue Transplantation, which is headed by the famous surgeon Professor V. I. Shumakov. It would seem that what could be in common between the study of a healthy organism in the special conditions of space flight and such an extreme measure of saving hopeless patients as organ transplantation? But there is something in common.

The area of ​​mutual interest relates to the problems of immunity - the natural protection of the body from the effects of bacteria, microbes and other foreign bodies. It has been established that under the conditions of space flight the immunological protection of the body weakens. There are a number of reasons for this, one of which is as follows.

In ordinary life, we always and everywhere meet with microbes. In the closed space of a spacecraft, the atmosphere is almost sterile, the microflora is much poorer. Immunity becomes practically "unemployed" and "loses shape", as an athlete loses it if he does not train for a long time.

But even during organ transplantation, so that the body does not reject them, it is already necessary to artificially reduce the level of immunity. This is where our common questions arise: how does the body behave in these conditions, how to protect it from infectious diseases? ..

There is another area of ​​mutual interest. We believe that over time people will fly and live in space for a very long time. So they can get sick. Therefore, there is a need, firstly, to imagine what these diseases can be, and secondly, to provide people in flight with diagnostic equipment and, of course, with means of treatment.

These may be medicines, but there may also be an artificial kidney - one cannot exclude the possibility that such funds will be needed on long-distance expeditions. So we are thinking together with the specialists of the Institute of Organ and Tissue Transplantation on how to supply the participants of future space expeditions with “spare parts” and what kind of “repair technology” should be.

However, an operation in space is, of course, an extreme case. The main role will be played by the prevention of diseases. And here nutrition can play an important role as a means of controlling metabolism and its changes, if they arise, as well as a means of reducing neuro-emotional stress.

A diet composed in a certain way with the inclusion of appropriate drugs in food will do its job unnoticed by a person, the procedure will not be in the nature of taking a medicine. For a number of years, we have carried out relevant studies with the Institute of Nutrition of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences under the guidance of A. A. Pokrovsky, Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

Another example: the N. N. Priorov Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics (CITO), headed by Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences M. V. Volkov. The area of ​​interest of the institute is the human musculoskeletal system. Moreover, not only methods of treating fractures and bruises, methods of prosthetics, but also all kinds of changes in bone tissue are being studied.

The latter is also of interest to us, because certain changes in bone tissue also occur in space. The methods of influencing these processes, used both in space and in the clinic, are basically very close to each other.

Hypokinesia, which is common in our time - low mobility - is even more pronounced in space. The condition of a person who gets out of bed after a two-month illness is comparable to the condition of an astronaut who has returned from a flight: both must learn to walk on the ground again.

The fact is that in weightlessness, part of the blood moves from the lower part of the body to the upper, rushes to the head. In addition, the muscles, not receiving the usual load, weaken. The same thing happens when you lie in bed for a long time. When a person returns to Earth (or gets up after a long illness), the reverse process occurs - the blood quickly flows from top to bottom, which is accompanied by dizziness and can even cause fainting.

To avoid such phenomena, astronauts in flight load their muscles on a special simulator, use the so-called vacuum system, which helps to move part of the blood to the lower half of the body. Returning from the flight, they wear for some time post-flight prophylactic suits, which, on the contrary, prevent the rapid outflow of blood from the upper half of the body.

Now similar funds are used in medical institutions. In CITO, space-type simulators allow patients to "walk" without getting out of bed. And the post-flight suits were successfully tested at the A.V. Vishnevsky Institute of Surgery - with their help, patients literally get back on their feet faster.

The redistribution of blood in the body is not just a mechanical process, it also affects physiological functions and therefore is of considerable interest both for space biology and medicine, and for clinical cardiology. Moreover, the issues of regulation of blood circulation during a change in the spatial position of the body have not yet been sufficiently studied in healthy people.

And in joint research with the A. L. Myasnikov Institute of Cardiology and the Institute of Organ and Tissue Transplantation, we obtained the first interesting data on, for example, how pressure changes in various vessels and cavities of the heart when the position of the body in space changes. About how and at what pace the biochemical composition of the blood flowing from the brain, or from the liver, or from the muscles changes during physical activity, that is, separately from each organ.

This makes it possible to more deeply judge his work and condition. The studies in question enrich our knowledge of human physiology and biochemistry in an extraordinary way; this is an example of a fundamental study of the biological essence of man. And the example is not the only one.

I have already mentioned that in space the number of red blood cells in a person decreases and that it is important to understand the causes of this phenomenon. Special studies, in particular on the Cosmos-782 satellite, have shown that the stability (resistance) of these cells decreases in space, and therefore they are destroyed more often than under normal terrestrial conditions, their average life expectancy is reduced.

Now, of course, we will have to find out how the stability of erythrocytes could be maintained. This is important for space, but it can also be useful in the fight against anemia and other blood diseases.

The fact that space biology participates in the fundamental research of the human organism characterizes in a quite definite way the present stage of its development. Fundamental research lays the foundation for the further development of practical activity. In our case, the foundations for further advancement of man into space are being laid.

Who will fly into space

Even now, the needs of space exploration are forcing scientists to think about expanding the composition of specialists flying into space.

In the coming years, we can expect the appearance in orbit of scientists - space explorers, engineers - organizers of extraterrestrial production of various materials that cannot be obtained on Earth, workers for assembling space objects and servicing production, etc.

For these specialists, apparently, it will be necessary to expand the now rather narrow “gate” of medical selection, that is, to reduce the formal requirements for the state of health, to reduce the amount of preparatory training.

At the same time, of course, complete safety and, I would say, the safety of the flight for these people must be guaranteed.

In an orbital flight, this is relatively easy to do: not only can you establish constant monitoring of the state of the crew, but, in extreme cases, there is always the possibility of returning a person to Earth in a few hours. Another thing is interplanetary flights, they will be much more autonomous.

An expedition, say, to Mars will take 2.5-3 years. This means that the approach to the organization of such expeditions should be different from that for flights in orbit. Here, obviously, it is impossible to reduce the requirements for health in the selection of candidates.

Moreover, candidates, it seems to me, must possess not only excellent health, but also some specific properties - for example, the ability to easily adapt to changing environmental conditions or a certain nature of response to extreme impacts.

The ability of the body to adapt to changes in biological rhythms is very important. The fact is that the rhythms characteristic of us are of a purely earthly origin. For example, the most important of them - daily - is directly related to the change of day and night. But the Earth day exists only on Earth, on other planets the day, of course, is different, and you will have to adapt to them.

What to do during the flight

Questions related to the moral climate that will be established on board are becoming very important. And the point here is not only in the personal qualities of people, but also in the organization of their work, everyday life - life in general, taking into account the needs, including aesthetic ones, of each crew member. This range of questions is perhaps the most difficult.

For example, the problem of free time. It is believed that during the flight to the same Mars, the workload for each crew member will be no more than 4 hours a day. We will take 8 hours to sleep, 12 will remain. What to do with them? In the limited space of the spacecraft, with the same crew composition, this is not so easy to do. Books? Music? Movies? Yes, but not any. Music, even favorite music, can cause excessive emotional arousal, enhance the feeling of separation from home.

Books and films of a dramatic or tragic nature can also cause negative reactions, but the genre of adventure, fantasy, books by travelers, polar explorers, speleologists, in which there is material for comparison, empathy, will undoubtedly be well received. It is possible to solve crossword puzzles, rebuses, but it will hardly be recommended to play chess or checkers, because in such games there is an element of rivalry that is undesirable in such a situation.

All of these considerations arose as a result of ongoing research. They, in my opinion, greatly stimulate a close study of human psychology, and I think that in time, when the above problems are sufficiently developed, they will also be of great benefit to earthly practice - in the organization of work and recreation for people.

Life support for expeditions

A special place in the development of interplanetary flights is occupied by the life support of expeditions. Now the cosmonauts simply take everything they need in flight from the Earth (the atmosphere is only partially regenerated; in some flights, experimental water regeneration was carried out).

But you can’t take supplies with you for three years. On the interplanetary ship, it is necessary to create a closed ecological system, similar to the earth, but in miniature, which will supply the crew with food, water, fresh air and dispose of waste products.

The task is incredibly difficult! In essence, we are talking about competition with nature: what it has been creating for many millions of years on the entire planet, people are trying to reproduce in the laboratory in order to then transfer it to a spaceship.

Such work has been carried out for many years at our institute, at the Krasnoyarsk L. V. Kirensky Institute of Physics. Something has already been done, but still one cannot speak of great successes here. Many experts generally believe that real practical success may be achieved only in 15-20 years. Perhaps, of course, earlier, but not by much.

Genetics

Finally, the problems of genetics, reproduction of offspring. In our institute, together with Moscow State University and the Institute of Developmental Biology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, research is being carried out to determine the effect of weightlessness on embryogenesis and morphogenesis.

Experiments, in particular on the Kosmos-782 satellite, showed that weightlessness does not prevent insects (drosophila) from giving normal offspring, while in more complex organisms - fish, frogs - in a number of cases violations, deviations from the norm were found. This suggests that for normal development at the very first stages of the life of the embryo, they need the force of gravity, and, therefore, this force should be created artificially.

Problems of long-term space flights

Thus, the problems of long-term space flights are the most essential in our work today. And here the question is legitimate: how long can a person stay in space? It's impossible to answer right now. During the flight, a number of processes take place in the body, which cannot yet be controlled. They have not been studied to the end, after all, a person has not yet flown for more than three months, and we do not know how these processes will proceed with longer flight times.

An objective, experimental verification is needed, and the question of the possibility of, say, a three-year stay of a man in space must be resolved in near-Earth orbit. Only then will we have a guarantee that such an expedition will be successful.

But I think that a person will not encounter insurmountable obstacles on this path. Such a conclusion can be drawn on the basis of today's knowledge. After all, the space age of humanity has just begun, and, figuratively speaking, we are now only going on that long journey that humanity faces in space.