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Who Is Eligible for Space-A Flights?

To use Space-A flights, eligible passengers need to sign up in advance, and priority is given based on a system of categories that rank passengers according to their status and the nature of their travel.

The following is a partial listing of eligible individuals and their category of travel. In Space A terms, your "category" of travel is your priority. The numerical order of space-available categories indicates who gets to board the plane first. Travelers in lower numbered categories move first.

You are placed in one of these six categories based on a combination of two criteria: your status (for example, active duty member, DoDDS teacher, etc.), and your situation (for example, emergency leave, and ordinary leave, etc.).

Once accepted for movement, a space-available passenger may not be "bumped" by another space-available passenger, regardless of category.

A complete listing of eligible passengers by category is found on the AMC website .

Category I - Emergency Leave Travel

• US citizen, DOD Civilian Employees stationed overseas
• Full-time, paid personnel of the American Red Cross serving with U.S. military overseas
• Military family members whose sponsors are stationed within the Continental United States (CONUS) and the emergency exists overseas
• Family members of U.S. citizen civilian DOD employees when both sponsor and dependents are stationed at the same location overseas

Category II - Accompanied Environmental & Morale Leave (EML)

• Sponsors on EML and accompanied family members.
• DoD Dependent School (DoDDS) teachers and their accompanied family members in EML status during school year holiday, vacation periods.

Category III - Ordinary Leave, House Hunting TDY and Others

• Military members on ordinary leave and military patients on convalescent leave. 
• Military members on permissive temporary duty (TDY) orders for house hunting in conjunction with PCS orders. Military member can be accompanied by one family member
• Dependents of military members deployed for more than 365 consecutive days
• Military family members (up to age 23 with a valid ID card) of a military member when accompanied by their sponsor who is in an ordinary leave status between overseas and CONUS

Category IV - Unaccompanied Dependents on EML

• Dependents of military members deployed more than 30 consecutive days
• Unaccompanied family members (18 years or older) traveling on EML orders. Family members under 18 must be accompanied by an adult family member who is traveling EML
• DoDDS teachers or family members (accompanied or unaccompanied) in an EML status during summer break

Category V - Permissive TDY, Students, Dependents, Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence and Others

• Unaccompanied command-sponsored dependents
• Students whose sponsor is stationed in Alaska or Hawaii
• Students enrolled in a trade school in the CONUS when the sponsor is stationed overseas
• Military personnel traveling on permissive TDY orders for other than house hunting

Category VI - Retirees, Dependents, Reservists, Disabled Veterans and Others

• National Guard/Reserve components/members of the Ready Reserve and members of the Standby Reserve who are on the Active Status List
• Retired military members who are issued DD Form 2 and eligible to receive retired or retainer pay
• Family members (with a valid identification card) of retired members when accompanied by a sponsor
• Surviving spouses of service members who died while on active duty, inactive duty training, or annual training status as well as retired military members, and their accompanying dependents; they must have a DoD USID and privilege card. Dependents younger than 14 must have valid ID
• Authorized veterans with a permanent service-connected disability rated as total (100% DAV) and their dependents (when accompanied by their sponsor) traveling in the CONUS or directly between the CONUS and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa (Guam and American Samoa travelers may transit Hawaii or Alaska); or traveling within Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands

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Everything you need to know about space travel (almost)

We're a long way from home...

Paul Parsons

When did we first start exploring space?

The first human-made object to go into space was a German V2 missile , launched on a test flight in 1942. Although uncrewed, it reached an altitude of 189km (117 miles).

Former Nazi rocket scientists were later recruited by both America and Russia (often at gunpoint in the latter case), where they were instrumental in developing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) – rockets capable of carrying nuclear weapons from one side of the planet to the other.

It was these super-missiles that formed the basis for the space programmes of both post-war superpowers. As it happened, Russia was the first to reach Earth orbit, when it launched the uncrewed Sputnik 1 in October 1957, followed a month later by Sputnik 2, carrying the dog Laika – the first live animal in space.

The USA sent its first uncrewed satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit soon after, in January 1958. A slew of robotic spaceflights followed, from both sides of the Atlantic, before Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin piloted Vostok 1 into orbit on 12 April 1961, to become the first human being in space . And from there the space race proper began, culminating in Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first people to walk on the Moon as part of NASA's Apollo programme .

Why is space travel important?

Space exploration is the future. It satisfies the human urge to explore and to travel, and in the years and decades to come it could even provide our species with new places to call home – especially relevant now, as Earth becomes increasingly crowded .

Extending our reach into space is also necessary for the advancement of science. Space telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and probes to the distant worlds of the Solar System are continually updating, and occasionally revolutionising, our understanding of astronomy and physics.

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But there are also some very practical reasons, such as mining asteroids for materials that are extremely rare here on Earth.

One example is the huge reserve of the chemical isotope helium-3 thought to be locked away in the soil on the surface of the Moon . This isotope is a potential fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors – power stations that tap into the same source of energy as the Sun. Unlike other fusion fuels, helium-3 gives off no hard-to-contain and deadly neutron radiation.

However, for this to happen the first challenge to overcome is how to build a base on the Moon. In 2019, China's Chang’e 4 mission marked the beginning of a new space race to conquer the Moon, signalling their intent to build a permanent lunar base , while the NASA Artemis mission plans to build a space station, called Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway , providing a platform to ferry astronauts to the Moon's surface.

Could humans travel into interstellar space and how would we get there?

It’s entirely feasible that human explorers will visit the furthest reaches of our Solar System. The stars, however, are another matter. Interstellar space is so vast that it takes light – the fastest thing we know of in the Universe – years, centuries and millennia to traverse it. Faster-than-light travel may be possible one day, but is unlikely to become a reality in our lifetimes.

It’s not impossible that humans might one day cross this cosmic gulf, though it won’t be easy. The combustion-powered rocket engines of today certainly aren’t up to the job – they just don’t use fuel efficiently enough. Instead, interstellar spacecraft may create a rocket-like propulsion jet using electric and magnetic fields. This so-called ‘ ion drive ’ technology has already been tested aboard uncrewed Solar System probes.

Another possibility is to push spacecraft off towards the stars using the light from a high-powered laser . A consortium of scientists calling themselves Breakthrough Starshot is already planning to send a flotilla of tiny robotic probes to our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, using just this method.

Though whether human astronauts could survive such punishing acceleration, or the decades-long journey through deep space, remains to be seen.

How do we benefit from space exploration?

Pushing forward the frontiers of science is the stated goal of many space missions . But even the development of space travel technology itself can lead to unintended yet beneficial ‘spin-off’ technologies with some very down-to-earth applications.

Notable spin-offs from the US space programme, NASA, include memory foam mattresses, artificial hearts, and the lubricant spray WD-40. Doubtless, there are many more to come.

Read more about space exploration:

• The next giant leaps: The UK missions getting us to the Moon
• Move over, Mars: why we should look further afield for future human colonies
• Everything you need to know about the Voyager mission
• 6 out-of-this-world experiments recreating space on Earth

Space exploration also instils a sense of wonder, it reminds us that there are issues beyond our humdrum planet and its petty squabbles, and without doubt it helps to inspire each new generation of young scientists. It’s also an insurance policy. We’re now all too aware that global calamities can and do happen – for instance, climate change and the giant asteroid that smashed into the Earth 65 million years ago, leading to the total extinction of the dinosaurs .

The lesson for the human species is that we keep all our eggs in one basket at our peril. On the other hand, a healthy space programme, and the means to travel to other worlds, gives us an out.

Is space travel dangerous?

In short, yes – very. Reaching orbit means accelerating up to around 28,000kph (17,000mph, or 22 times the speed of sound ). If anything goes wrong at that speed, it’s seldom good news.

Then there’s the growing cloud of space junk to contend with in Earth's orbit – defunct satellites, discarded rocket stages and other detritus – all moving just as fast. A five-gram bolt hitting at orbital speed packs as much energy as a 200kg weight dropped from the top of an 18-storey building.

And getting to space is just the start of the danger. The principal hazard once there is cancer-producing radiation – the typical dose from one day in space is equivalent to what you’d receive over an entire year back on Earth, thanks to the planet’s atmosphere and protective magnetic field.

Add to that the icy cold airless vacuum , the need to bring all your own food and water, plus the effects of long-duration weightlessness on bone density, the brain and muscular condition – including that of the heart – and it soon becomes clear that venturing into space really isn’t for the faint-hearted.

When will space travel be available to everyone?

It’s already happening – that is, assuming your pockets are deep enough. The first self-funded ‘space tourist’ was US businessman Dennis Tito, who in 2001 spent a week aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for the cool sum of $20m (£15m).

Virgin Galactic has long been promising to take customers on short sub-orbital hops into space – where passengers get to experience rocket propulsion and several minutes of weightlessness, before gliding back to a runway landing on Earth, all for $250k (£190k). In late July 2020, the company unveiled the finished cabin in its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, suggesting that commercial spaceflights may begin shortly.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX , which in May 2020 became the first private company to launch a human crew to Earth orbit aboard the Crew Dragon , plans to offer stays on the ISS for $35k (£27k) per night. SpaceX is now prototyping its huge Starship vehicle , which is designed to take 100 passengers from Earth to as far afield as Mars for around $20k (£15k) per head. Musk stated in January that he hoped to be operating 1,000 Starships by 2050.

10 Short Lessons in Space Travel by Paul Parsons is out now (£9.99, Michael O'Mara)

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The future of spaceflight—from orbital vacations to humans on Mars

NASA aims to travel to the moon again—and beyond. Here’s a look at the 21st-century race to send humans into space.

Welcome to the 21st-century space race, one that could potentially lead to 10-minute space vacations, orbiting space hotels , and humans on Mars. Now, instead of warring superpowers battling for dominance in orbit, private companies are competing to make space travel easier and more affordable. This year, SpaceX achieved a major milestone— launching humans to the International Space Station (ISS) from the United States —but additional goalposts are on the star-studded horizon.

Private spaceflight

Private spaceflight is not a new concept . In the United States, commercial companies played a role in the aerospace industry right from the start: Since the 1960s, NASA has relied on private contractors to build spacecraft for every major human spaceflight program, starting with Project Mercury and continuing until the present.

Today, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is expanding on the agency’s relationship with private companies. Through it, NASA is relying on SpaceX and Boeing to build spacecraft capable of carrying humans into orbit. Once those vehicles are built, both companies retain ownership and control of the craft, and NASA can send astronauts into space for a fraction of the cost of a seat on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

SpaceX, which established a new paradigm by developing reusable rockets , has been running regular cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station since 2012. And in May 2020, the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft carried NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the ISS , becoming the first crewed mission to launch from the United States in nearly a decade. The mission, called Demo-2, is scheduled to return to Earth in August. Boeing is currently developing its Starliner spacecraft and hopes to begin carrying astronauts to the ISS in 2021.

Other companies, such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic , are specializing in sub-orbital space tourism. Test launch video from inside the cabin of Blue Origin’s New Shepard shows off breathtaking views of our planet and a relatively calm journey for its first passenger, a test dummy cleverly dubbed “Mannequin Skywalker.” Virgin Galactic is running test flights on its sub-orbital spaceplane , which will offer paying customers roughly six minutes of weightlessness during its journey through Earth’s atmosphere.

With these and other spacecraft in the pipeline, countless dreams of zero-gravity somersaults could soon become a reality—at least for passengers able to pay the hefty sums for the experience.

Early U.S. Spaceflight

Looking to the moon

Moon missions are essential to the exploration of more distant worlds. After a long hiatus from the lunar neighborhood, NASA is again setting its sights on Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor with an ambitious plan to place a space station in lunar orbit sometime in the next decade. Sooner, though, the agency’s Artemis program , a sister to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, is aiming to put the first woman (and the next man) on the lunar surface by 2024.

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Extended lunar stays build the experience and expertise needed for the long-term space missions required to visit other planets. As well, the moon may also be used as a forward base of operations from which humans learn how to replenish essential supplies, such as rocket fuel and oxygen, by creating them from local material.

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Such skills are crucial for the future expansion of human presence into deeper space, which demands more independence from Earth-based resources. And although humans have visited the moon before, the cratered sphere still harbors its own scientific mysteries to be explored—including the presence and extent of water ice near the moon's south pole, which is one of the top target destinations for space exploration .

NASA is also enlisting the private sector to help it reach the moon. It has awarded three contracts to private companies working on developing human-rated lunar landers—including both Blue Origin and SpaceX. But the backbone of the Artemis program relies on a brand new, state-of-the-art spacecraft called Orion .

Archival Photos of Spaceflight

Currently being built and tested, Orion—like Crew Dragon and Starliner—is a space capsule similar to the spacecraft of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, as well as Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. But the Orion capsule is larger and can accommodate a four-person crew. And even though it has a somewhat retro design, the capsule concept is considered to be safer and more reliable than NASA’s space shuttle—a revolutionary vehicle for its time, but one that couldn’t fly beyond Earth’s orbit and suffered catastrophic failures.

Capsules, on the other hand, offer launch-abort capabilities that can protect astronauts in case of a rocket malfunction. And, their weight and design mean they can also travel beyond Earth’s immediate neighborhood, potentially ferrying humans to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

A new era in spaceflight

By moving into orbit with its Commercial Crew Program and partnering with private companies to reach the lunar surface, NASA hopes to change the economics of spaceflight by increasing competition and driving down costs. If space travel truly does become cheaper and more accessible, it’s possible that private citizens will routinely visit space and gaze upon our blue, watery home world—either from space capsules, space stations, or even space hotels like the inflatable habitats Bigelow Aerospace intends to build .

The United States isn’t the only country with its eyes on the sky. Russia regularly launches humans to the International Space Station aboard its Soyuz spacecraft. China is planning a large, multi-module space station capable of housing three taikonauts, and has already launched two orbiting test vehicles—Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2, both of which safely burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere after several years in space.

Now, more than a dozen countries have the ability to launch rockets into Earth orbit. A half-dozen space agencies have designed spacecraft that shed the shackles of Earth’s gravity and traveled to the moon or Mars. And if all goes well, the United Arab Emirates will join that list in the summer of 2020 when its Hope spacecraft heads to the red planet . While there are no plans yet to send humans to Mars, these missions—and the discoveries that will come out of them—may help pave the way.

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3 predictions for the future of space exploration — including your own trips

Alejandra Marquez Janse

Mary Louise Kelly

Tinbete Ermyas

Peggy Whitson says more widely available space tourism is realistic. Axiom Space hide caption

Peggy Whitson says more widely available space tourism is realistic.

If you've ever traveled somewhere that left you so enthralled that you wanted to go back over and over, then you get how Peggy Whitson feels about space.

She is a seasoned astronaut who has multiple achievements under her belt: She was the first woman to command the International Space Station, and in 2017 broke the record for most cumulative days in space of any American and female astronaut, with a count of 665.

Whitson retired from NASA nearly five years ago, but last month, at age 63, she packed up the necklace she wore on her wedding day, zipped her spacesuit one more time, and took flight in a SpaceX capsule as commander of the Ax-2 mission. It was sponsored by a private company, Axiom Space, where she now works as the director of human spaceflight. Three paying crew members traveled with her.

After returning to Earth, Whitson spoke with All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly and shared a few thoughts about the future of space exploration.

This interview has been edited slightly for clarity and brevity.

The Ax-2 crew in a training session. The group, composed of Whitson (far left) and three paying costumers, spent nine days in space last month. Axiom Space hide caption

The Ax-2 crew in a training session. The group, composed of Whitson (far left) and three paying costumers, spent nine days in space last month.

1. Space exploration will be a mix of public and private money

If you look at even the NASA missions returning to the moon, lots of different private space companies are involved in that process. And that includes Axiom Space, for instance, who are building the spacesuits that will be used by the NASA astronauts as they step on the moon again. So it's exciting to be part of this changing philosophy of space and the efforts of commercial companies like Axiom Space. We intend to build the first commercial space station initially attached to the International Space Station, but to undock before the space station is decommissioned.

I think it's a worldwide relationship between different companies and peoples, and that's what makes it such a special time to be a part of the [Ax-2] mission, because [space exploration] is changing flavor and it's exciting because there are going to be many more opportunities in the future.

The Ax-2 crew returns to Earth. Could this be you one day? Axiom Space hide caption

2. More people will be able to go to space

Obviously some of it will take time to make it not cost-prohibitive, but the fact that we are taking those initial steps is really important now. If you look back at commercial aviation and how that occurred and the development of that process, you know, it also started off to be only a few people could be involved and then later more and more, and so now it's pretty commonplace. I like to think that we're doing some of the same steps in commercial spaceflight now.

3. The goals depend on the person — and the country — that's traveling

Well, the objective of the mission is slightly different, obviously. My personal roles and responsibilities of taking care of the crew and ensuring their safety obviously are very similar. But our objectives were, we had one private astronaut, John Shoffner, who was trying to develop science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) outreach products for educators in the future, as well as doing research. And then we had two government sponsored astronauts from Saudi Arabia – the first female Saudi Arabian to fly in space and go to the International Space Station – and the second male to arrive.

SpaceX mission returns from space station with ex-NASA astronaut, 3 paying customers

So the objectives of the crew weren't all that much different necessarily than a NASA mission, which is outreach and scientific investigations, but these were with the specific goals of expanding outreach in specific areas for Saudi – which hadn't had a person in space for 40 years – and, you know, to inspire their youth as well as inspiring the youth in the United States.

History of Space Travel

Learn about the history of humans traveling into space.

The first earthling to orbit our planet was just two years old, plucked from the streets of Moscow barely more than a week before her historic launch. Her name was Laika. She was a terrier mutt and by all accounts a good dog. Her 1957 flight paved the way for space exploration back when scientists didn’t know if spaceflight was lethal for living things.

Humans are explorers. Since before the dawn of civilization, we’ve been lured over the horizon to find food or more space, to make a profit, or just to see what’s beyond those trees or mountains or oceans. Our ability to explore reached new heights—literally—in the last hundred years. Airplanes shortened distances, simplified travel, and showed us Earth from a new perspective. By the middle of the last century, we aimed even higher.

Our first steps into space began as a race between the United States and the former Soviet Union, rivals in a global struggle for power. Laika was followed into orbit four years later by the first human, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin. With Earth orbit achieved, we turned our sights on the moon. The United States landed two astronauts on its stark surface in 1969, and five more manned missions followed. The U.S.’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched probes to study the solar system. Manned space stations began glittering in the sky. NASA developed reusable spacecraft—space shuttle orbiters—to ferry astronauts and satellites to orbit. Space-travel technology had advanced light-years in just three decades. Gagarin had to parachute from his spaceship after reentry from orbit. The space shuttle leaves orbit at 16,465 miles an hour (26,498 kilometers an hour) and glides to a stop on a runway without using an engine.

Space travel is nothing like in the movies. Getting from A to B requires complex calculations involving inertia and gravity—literally, rocket science—to "slingshot" from planet to planet (or moon) across the solar system. The Voyager mission of the 1970s took advantage of a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to shave off nearly 20 years of travel time. Space is also dangerous. More than 20 astronauts have died doing their job.

That hasn’t stopped people from signing up and blasting off. NASA’s shuttle program has ended, but private companies are readying their own space programs. A company called Planetary Resources plans to send robot astronauts to the Asteroid Belt to mine for precious metals. Another company named SpaceX is hoping to land civilian astronauts on Mars—the next human step into the solar system—in 20 years. NASA and other civilian companies are planning their own Mars missions. Maybe you’ll be a member of one? Don’t forget to bring your dog.

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Articles on Space travel

Displaying 1 - 20 of 132 articles.

Even with astronauts stuck in space until next year, NASA’s pushing human flights harder than ever

Rebecca Allen , Swinburne University of Technology

Friday essay: love and loss in outer space – Ceridwen Dovey on how scientists feel about space objects

Ceridwen Dovey , Macquarie University

Keeping astronauts healthy in space isn’t easy − new training programs will prepare students to perform medicine while thousands of miles away from Earth

Arian Anderson , University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Space travel taxes astronauts’ brains. But microbes on the menu could help in unexpected ways

Felice Jacka , Deakin University and Dorit Donoviel , Baylor College of Medicine

Was going to space a good idea?

Alice Gorman , Flinders University

Alienation and hidden histories: ‘unsettling’ new Australian stories reveal a distorted world

Julian Novitz , Swinburne University of Technology

Three medieval tales about adventures to the Moon from around the world

Ayoush Lazikani , University of Oxford

Almost half of Moon missions fail. Why is space still so hard?

Gail Iles , RMIT University

Most Americans support NASA – but don’t think it should prioritize sending people to space

Mariel Borowitz , Georgia Institute of Technology and Teasel Muir-Harmony , Georgetown University

Why is extreme ‘frontier travel’ booming despite the risks?

Anne Hardy , University of Tasmania ; Can Seng Ooi , University of Tasmania ; Hanne E F Nielsen , University of Tasmania , and Joseph M. Cheer , Western Sydney University

How activity in outer space will affect regional inequalities in the future

Matthew Finch , University of Oxford

Virgin Orbit bankruptcy: why the UK’s spaceport industry may still have a bright future

Steffi Paladini , Birmingham City University

The food systems that will feed Mars are set to transform food on Earth

Lenore Newman , University of The Fraser Valley and Evan Fraser , University of Guelph

This course takes college students out of this world – and teaches them what it takes to become space pioneers

Joshua D. Ambrosius , University of Dayton

The world finally has its first ‘parastronaut’. Can we expect anyone to be able to go to space one day?

Steven Moore , CQUniversity Australia

Sci-fi books for young readers often omit children of color from the future

Emily Midkiff , University of North Dakota

Curious Kids: is it possible to see what is happening in distant solar systems now?

Jacco van Loon , Keele University

NASA to launch 3 rockets from Northern Territory in boost for Australian space efforts

Melissa de Zwart , Flinders University

Curious Kids: what would happen if someone moved at twice the speed of light?

Sam Baron , Australian Catholic University

What happens when someone dies in space? Space tourism brings new legal and moral issues

Christopher Newman , Northumbria University, Newcastle and Nick Caplan , Northumbria University, Newcastle

Related Topics

• International Space Station (ISS)
• Space exploration
• Space Shuttle
• Space tourism

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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University

Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University

Professor of Hypersonic Aerodynamics, The University of Queensland

Professor of Aerospace Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Sterrenkenner, History & Philosophy of Science, The University of Melbourne

Professor of Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney

Space Plasma Physicist, Imperial College London

ARC DECRA Fellow, Centre for Hypersonics, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland

Reader in Astrophysics, Keele University

Associate Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University

Senior Lecturer in Space Systems Engineering, University of Glasgow

Professor of Strategy, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge

Adjunct Professor, School of Computer and Security Science, Edith Cowan University

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Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review

Affiliations.

• 1 Department of Medicine and Center for Space Medicine, Section of Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 2 Translational Research Institute for Space Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 3 Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
• 4 Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
• 5 Flight Medicine, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
• 6 Department of Emergency Medicine and Center for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 7 Department of Neurology, Center for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 8 KBR, Houston, TX 77002, USA.
• 9 Department of Dermatology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 10 Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 11 InnovaSpace, London SE28 0LZ, UK.
• 12 Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer, NASA, Washington, DC 20546, USA.
• 13 Microgen Laboratories, La Marque, TX 77568, USA.
• 14 Department of Surgery and Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada.
• 15 Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, FL 32502, USA.
• 16 Division of Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences, NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
• 17 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
• 18 Department of Ophthalmology, Blanton Eye Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 19 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
• 20 Department of Ophthalmology, Texas A and M College of Medicine, College Station, TX 77807, USA.
• 21 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
• 22 Departments of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA.
• 23 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center, Human Health and Performance Directorate, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
• PMID: 36611835
• PMCID: PMC9818606
• DOI: 10.3390/cells12010040

The field of human space travel is in the midst of a dramatic revolution. Upcoming missions are looking to push the boundaries of space travel, with plans to travel for longer distances and durations than ever before. Both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and several commercial space companies (e.g., Blue Origin, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic) have already started the process of preparing for long-distance, long-duration space exploration and currently plan to explore inner solar planets (e.g., Mars) by the 2030s. With the emergence of space tourism, space travel has materialized as a potential new, exciting frontier of business, hospitality, medicine, and technology in the coming years. However, current evidence regarding human health in space is very limited, particularly pertaining to short-term and long-term space travel. This review synthesizes developments across the continuum of space health including prior studies and unpublished data from NASA related to each individual organ system, and medical screening prior to space travel. We categorized the extraterrestrial environment into exogenous (e.g., space radiation and microgravity) and endogenous processes (e.g., alteration of humans' natural circadian rhythm and mental health due to confinement, isolation, immobilization, and lack of social interaction) and their various effects on human health. The aim of this review is to explore the potential health challenges associated with space travel and how they may be overcome in order to enable new paradigms for space health, as well as the use of emerging Artificial Intelligence based (AI) technology to propel future space health research.

Keywords: human health; microgravity; space exploration; space mission; space radiation; space travel.

Publication types

• Artificial Intelligence
• Circadian Rhythm
• Extraterrestrial Environment
• Space Flight*
• Weightlessness*

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Russia Travel Advisory

Travel advisory june 27, 2024, russia - level 4: do not travel.

Reissued after periodic review with minor edits.

Do not travel to Russia due to the consequences of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces. U.S. citizens may face harassment or detention by Russian security officials, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, limited flights into and out of Russia, and the possibility of terrorism. The U.S. Embassy has limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia. The Department has determined that there is a continued risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals by Russian authorities. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should leave immediately.

The U.S. government has limited ability to help U.S. citizens in Russia, especially outside of Moscow. The U.S. Embassy is operating with reduced staffing, and the Russian government has restricted travel for embassy personnel. Furthermore, all U.S. consulates in Russia have suspended operations, including consular services.

There have been reports of drone attacks and explosions near the border with Ukraine as well as in Moscow, Kazan, and St. Petersburg. In an emergency, you should follow instructions from local authorities and seek shelter.

Russia may refuse to recognize your U.S. citizenship if you are a dual U.S.-Russian citizen or have a claim to Russian citizenship. Russia has denied consular officers visits to detained dual U.S.-Russian citizens. The Russian government has forced citizens with dual nationality to join the Russian military and prevented them from leaving the country. In 2022, the Russian government mobilized citizens for its invasion of Ukraine. Military conscription continues.

In Russia, the rights to peaceful assembly and free speech are not always protected. U.S. citizens should avoid protests and taking photos of security staff at these events. Russian authorities have arrested U.S. citizens who joined protests. Moreover, there are many reports of Russians being detained for social media posts.

U.S. citizens should know that U.S. credit and debit cards no longer work in Russia. Due to sanctions, sending electronic money transfers from the U.S. to Russia is nearly impossible.

Commercial flight options are minimal and are often unavailable on short notice. If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements. The U.S. Embassy has limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in leaving the country, and transportation options may suddenly become even more restricted.

Click  here  for Information for U.S. Citizens Seeking to Depart Russia.

U.S. Embassy staff generally are not allowed to fly on Russian airlines due to safety concerns. Recently, the FAA downgraded Russia's air safety rating from Category 1 to Category 2. Additionally, the FAA banned U.S. flights in some Russian areas, including the Moscow Flight Information Region (FIR), the Samara FIR (UWWW), and the Rostov-na-Donu (URRV) FIR within 160NM of the boundaries of the Dnipro (UKDV) Flight Information Regions. Check the FAA's Prohibitions, Restrictions, and Notices for more information.

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Russian officials have interrogated and threatened U.S. citizens without cause. This includes former and current U.S. government and military personnel and private U.S. citizens engaged in business. U.S. citizens may become victims of harassment, mistreatment, and extortion.

Russian authorities may not notify the U.S. Embassy about the detention of a U.S. citizen and may delay U.S. consular assistance. Russian security services also target foreign and international organizations they consider “undesirable.”

Russian security services have arrested U.S. citizens on false charges, denied them fair treatment, and convicted them without credible evidence. Furthermore, Russian authorities have opened questionable investigations against U.S. citizens engaged in religious activity. U.S. citizens should avoid travel to Russia.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has destabilized security in southwestern Russia. In October 2022, the Russian government declared martial law in the following border areas with Ukraine: Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Rostov, and Krasnodar. Under martial law, authorities can set curfews, seize property, and restrict movement. The Russian government may detain foreigners, forcibly relocate residents, and limit public gatherings. U.S. citizens should avoid all travel to these areas.

Russian authorities have questioned, detained, and arrested people for “acting against Russia's interests.” Local authorities have targeted people for posting on social media or supporting "anti-Russian" groups and punished individuals for criticizing the government or military. The Russian government's current "LGBT propaganda" law bans discussion of LGBTQI+ related topics. In November 2023, the Supreme Court labeled the so-called "international LGBT movement" as extremist. This decision effectively made it a crime to support the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons in Russia.

Terrorists continue to plan attacks in Russia. The March 2024 Crocus City Hall incident proved they can strike suddenly. Terrorists may target tourist areas, transport hubs, and markets. They may also target government buildings, hotels, clubs, restaurants, and places of worship. Parks, events, schools, and airports are also potential targets.  U.S. government employees under Embassy (Chief of Mission) security responsibility are not permitted to travel to the North Caucasus, including Chechnya and Mt. Elbrus. U.S. citizens should avoid travel to those areas.

The international community does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea and does not acknowledge Russia’s purported annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya. Russia staged its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in part, from occupied Crimea and there is a heavy Russian military presence in these areas. There is intense fighting across these regions and Russian authorities there have abused both foreigners and locals. Authorities have specifically targeted individuals who are seen as challenging Russia’s authority.

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Putin Begins Meetings in Mongolia in Defiance of I.C.C. Arrest Warrant

The Russian president is making a state visit to a country that is heavily dependent on Moscow for oil.

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By Valerie Hopkins and David Pierson

Valerie Hopkins reported from Berlin, and David Pierson reported from Hong Kong.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia began meetings with the leader of Mongolia on Tuesday in his first state visit to a member of the International Criminal Court since it issued a warrant for his arrest in March 2023.

In advance of Mr. Putin’s trip, the I.C.C. stated that Mongolia was obligated to arrest Mr. Putin, but Mongolia is heavily dependent on Russia for fuel, and an arrest was considered extremely unlikely.

Far from being arrested, Mr. Putin was given a red-carpet welcome in the central square of the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar.

Ahead of the trip, the Kremlin had shrugged off the possibility of an arrest.

“There are no worries, we have a great dialogue with our friends from Mongolia,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters on Friday, noting that “all aspects of the visit have been thoroughly prepared.”

Mr. Putin was greeted when he arrived Monday night by what appeared to be a Mongolian military guard at the airport and spent the night in the capital, a sign that he is comfortable being in the country.

Mr. Putin’s visit on Tuesday, at the invitation of Mongolia’s president, Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, and in defiance of the I.C.C. arrest warrant, serves as a reminder that Russia still commands strategic sway over its southern neighbor despite efforts to hedge.

With the visit, “Putin gets a symbolic win for sure,” said Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. For Mongolia, he said, the visit shows that the need to maintain the relationship with Moscow outweighs the country’s pledge in 2002 when it signed the Rome Statute ratifying its membership in the I.C.C.

He added that Russia’s adversaries would have to “think twice” about the narrative that “Putin is pariah, he’s ostracized and whenever there is an I.C.C. warrant for a country that’s ratified the Rome Statute, that he will be arrested.”

The international court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, issued a warrant for Mr. Putin’s arrest last year, accusing him of committing war crimes with the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children. The court also issued a warrant for Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova .

The I.C.C. has no enforcement mechanism. Countries that have signed on to the court are supposed to detain those who are subject to its arrest warrants. Russia is not a signatory to the court and has consistently rejected its authority.

Mongolia, a landlocked democracy wedged between Russia and China, treads a careful political line in balancing between its two far more powerful neighbors. That has included taking a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine.

While it has looked to the West to ease some of its geopolitical pressure, hosting high-level guests like President Emmanuel Macron of France, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, and the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, it is also economically reliant on its far larger neighbors.

Mongolia shares a 2,100-mile border with Russia and relies on the giant gas-producing neighbor for 95 percent of its fuel. It tries to maintain steady ties with Moscow to help balance relations with Beijing, which also holds considerable influence over Ulaanbaatar by purchasing virtually all Mongolia’s commodity-driven exports.

“The Mongolian political establishment thinks it is easier to manage secure and predictable relations with Moscow” by hosting Mr. Putin, said Munkhnaran Bayarlkhagva, an independent geopolitical analyst who used to work at the National Security Council of Mongolia.

“Ulaanbaatar is choosing to have predictable relations with Moscow and do the damage control later,” Mr. Bayarlkhagva said. “After all, geography cannot be changed.”

Mr. Bayarlkhagva said Mongolia likely determined that there would be little blowback for Mr. Putin’s visit given that there is precedent for members of the International Criminal Court defying the Rome Statute. In 2015, South Africa refused to arrest Sudan’s then president, Omar al-Bashir, during his visit to Johannesburg despite the fact that he was wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur. Last year, Johannesburg asked the I.C.C. for an exemption from arresting Mr. Putin so he could attend the BRICS summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. When it was not granted, Mr. Putin chose to skip the summit instead.

Still, Mongolia’s decision to invite Mr. Putin was condemned by human rights watchdogs.

“Welcoming Putin, an I.C.C. fugitive, would not only be an affront to the many victims of Russian forces’ crimes, but also undermine the crucial principle that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law,” Maria Elena Vignoli, international justice senior counsel at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement ahead of the visit.

There are strong connections between the ruling Mongolian People’s Party and Russia, a relationship that dates back more than a century to when the People’s Party helped establish Mongolia’s socialist republic with the backing of the Soviet Red Army. Even after Mongolia’s democratic revolution in 1990, ties between the Mongolian People’s Party and Russia remained as a source of its political legitimacy.

The stated reason for Mr. Putin’s visit — to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the defeat of Japanese forces at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol by the Soviet and Mongolian armies — provides an “ideological boost” for the Mongolian People’s Party, Mr. Bayarlkhagva said.

Mr. Putin sought to underscore his country’s role as a protector of Mongolia in a written interview for the country’s biggest daily newspaper Unuudur, noting, “More than ten thousand soldiers and commanders of the Red Army gave their lives in the battle for the freedom and independence of Mongolia.”

No announcements are expected to be made about the proposed Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which would help redirect Russian gas supplies that had gone to Europe through Mongolia to reach China instead. In August, Mongolia’s parliament voted not to include the pipeline in its budget for the next four years, in what observers said was indication that it had low expectations that it would be built.

A Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said the Mongolian government summoned Western envoys to explain their reasoning behind Mr. Putin’s visit. Among them was the need to secure more supplies of fuel and electricity from Russia to prevent a repeat of the shortages the country faced last winter.

The diplomat said Mongolian officials were asked not to give Mr. Putin a platform to propagandize the war in Ukraine.

Khaliun Bayartsogt contributed reporting.

Valerie Hopkins covers the war in Ukraine and how the conflict is changing Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States. She is based in Moscow. More about Valerie Hopkins

David Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades. More about David Pierson

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

Zelensky Plans Major Shake-Up:   Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, offered to resign  amid plans by President Volodymyr Zelensky to restructure his cabinet in the biggest shake-up since Russia invaded more than two years ago.

Head of Power Company Fired:  The head of Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s electric company, was reportedly blamed for failing to fortify energy infrastructure , which has come under steady Russian bombardment, leading to blackouts.

A Deadly Russian Strike:  Russian missiles struck a military academy in eastern Ukraine, killing more than 50 people  and underscoring Moscow’s superior firepower in one of the war’s deadliest attacks.

Ukraine’s Scarred Students:  As children across Ukraine return to school, a teacher in Kyiv worries for her pupils , many of whom have fled frontline areas or lost family members in the fighting.

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