Given the increasing involvement of female astronauts in advancing our knowledge of human capacity for long-duration spaceflight, it is critical to determine how to ensure their health and safety, as well as optimize their performance. This commentary discusses the priority to leverage the strengths of innovative collaborations and scientific approaches to enable the identification of potential risks and establish effective countermeasures that will ultimately support the success of space exploration.

Private space missions such as Polaris Dawn exemplify the challenges facing the evolving landscape of space exploration. Polaris Dawn involved high-risk groundbreaking elements that included the first commercial spacewalk. Here, we draw attention to the fact that private spaceflights, while exciting, also have potential ramifications on government-sponsored space programs, highlighting the need to think about acceptable risks for such missions in the broader context of US space policy and funding.

Long-duration spaceflight missions are on the rise. However, recent literature suggests that prolonged and deep-space exposure is likely to introduce increased risks for brain health and consequent detriments to performance and well-being. Given up-to-date evidence, we argue that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a promising solution for mitigating behavioral and neurocognitive risks associated with long-duration and deep-space missions. We provide support from recent Earth-based applications of TMS and review several advantages it holds over current treatment approaches. Lastly, we highlight some of the needs in the process of applying such technology to the spaceflight environment.

The integration of biology and spacefaring has led to the development of three interrelated fields: Astrobiology, Bioastronautics, and Space Bioprocess Engineering. Astrobiology is concerned with the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe, while Bioastronautics focuses on the effects of spaceflight on biological systems, including human physiology and psychology. Space Bioprocess Engineering, on the other hand, deals with the design, deployment, and management of biotechnology for human exploration. This paper highlights the unique contributions of each field and outlines opportunities for biologists to engage in these exciting avenues of research. By providing a clear overview of the major fields of biology and spacefaring, this paper serves as a valuable resource for scientists and researchers interested in exploring the integration of these disciplines.

The purpose of this paper is to describe NASA’s approach to establishing and maintaining a set of Agency-level Space Flight Human System Standards managed by the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) at NASA that enables space flight missions by minimizing health risks to astronauts, providing vehicle design parameters, and supporting the performance of both flight and ground crews. NASA standards capture and provide knowledge, guidelines, thresholds and limits for the successful design and operation of spacecrafts and missions. The NASA Space Flight Human-System Standard (NASA-STD-3001) consists of two separate volumes of technical requirements: NASA-STD-3001 Volume 1: Crew Health addresses the requirements needed to support astronaut health and provide medical care; NASA-STD-3001 Volume 2: Human Factors, Habitability, and Environmental Health addresses human-integrated vehicle system design and operational requirements that will maintain astronaut safety and promote human performance. These standards are managed by an OCHMO team who continuously works with national and international subject matter experts and with each space flight program to provide the best technical requirements and implementation documentation to support the development of new programs. Through partnerships across the space flight industry, these technical requirements are constantly evolving to enable successful implementation of NASA programs and the commercialization of human space flight.