Mayo Clinic research is probing the effects of space travel on the health of citizens engaged in a new era of civilian spaceflights.

The team led by Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., studied health responses of the Axiom Mission (Ax-1) crew by monitoring the first all-civilian astronaut crew to fly to the International Space Station. The research data revealed that the health profiles of the civilian astronauts were maintained during and after the 17-day space mission.

The Ax-1 crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center in April 2022 with several research projects from Mayo Clinic. The research is published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

"As more civilians are poised to participate in space travel, understanding the impact of spaceflight on health in the general population is essential for safety, health risk mitigation and development of countermeasures," says Dr. Terzic, a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator and senior author of the research. "The present clinical study provides an inaugural plasma health profile for the next generation of space travelers." 

Dr. Terzic is the Marriott Family Director, Comprehensive Cardiac Regenerative Medicine for the Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics.

Space travel within reach of private citizens

For more than 50 years, NASA has studied the health of professional astronauts with a goal of making space travel safer. One of the main risks is exposure to space radiation particles once rocket ships leave the Earth's atmosphere. Radiation on Earth has been linked to risk of cancer, heart disease and degenerative conditions such as cataracts. Microgravity in space may also potentially trigger loss of bone density and muscle mass.

Currently little is known about how private citizens, who do not go through the same rigorous training as professional astronauts, may respond during or after space flights. In addition, much still needs to be learned about the long-term effects of extraterrestrial travel as NASA and private astro businesses set their sights on lengthy space travel to the moon or Mars.

The Mayo researchers took blood plasma samples from crew members one month before the launch, four days into the flight and upon landing. They studied the health of crew members. They evaluated 14 health blood biomarkers reflecting sugar and electrolyte levels, along with heart, liver and kidney status. A biomarker is a measurable indicator of disease or infection. Examples of biomarkers are blood pressure, body temperature and body mass index.

"This was a unique and exciting opportunity to be one of the first, if not the first, to study health response of common citizens in space. Previous studies have focused on the health and safety of professional astronauts who have extensive training to handle the rigors of space travel," says Armin Garmany, an M.D./Ph.D. student within the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and first author on the paper. "Our study points to the need for more research on various aspects of health as private space travel becomes more common." Garmany is a trainee in Dr. Terzic's cardiac protection and regeneration lab.

Additional research is needed to validate these findings in larger groups of civilian space travelers. The goal is to build a scientific database that would inform safety and wellbeing of space travel for private citizens.

The team is now focusing on regenerative sciences data acquired from experiments on heart cells conducted by the Ax-1 crew during its mission to the International Space Station.

Review the study for a complete list of authors, disclosures and funding.

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