Bioastronautics

Bioastronautics studies how spaceflight affects living organisms and how spacecraft can support human health and performance. It combines life sciences and engineering to address the biological demands of space travel.

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Microgravity: A condition in which objects experience very small apparent gravitational forces, as in orbiting spacecraft. It drives many characteristic changes in the body during orbital flight.
Environmental Control and Life Support System: Spacecraft systems that regulate cabin atmosphere, water, waste, and other conditions needed for crew survival. It creates the habitable environment that human spaceflight depends on.
Physiology: The study of how living organisms and their parts function. It provides the framework for describing body-system changes during spaceflight.
Twin Study: A NASA study comparing astronaut Scott Kelly with his identical twin, Mark Kelly, before, during, and after a year in space. It combined many measurements to examine human changes during long-duration flight.
Space radiation: Ionizing radiation in space from galactic cosmic rays, solar particle events, and trapped radiation belts. It poses a biological hazard that spacecraft shielding and mission planning must manage.
Space medicine: The medical specialty concerned with health care for people operating in spaceflight environments. It applies bioastronautics findings to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for crews.
Radiobiology: The study of how ionizing and non-ionizing radiation affect living systems. It helps estimate and investigate biological risks from the space radiation environment.
NASA Twins Study: A NASA research project that compared astronaut Scott Kelly with his identical twin, Mark Kelly, during a yearlong space mission. This is a common name for the Twin Study, not a separate case.
Fluid shift: The redistribution of body fluids toward the head that occurs in microgravity. It contributes to facial puffiness, altered vision, and cardiovascular adaptation in orbit.
Exercise countermeasure: A planned physical activity intervention used to limit harmful effects of inactivity or altered loading. Resistance and aerobic exercise help reduce muscle and bone loss in microgravity.