ABSTRACT
The major goal of medical investigations in the USSR longterm (up to 6 months) manned space flights was to accumulate information on human responses to prolonged weightlessness. Before, during and after these flights, detailed clinical, physiological, immunological and anthropometric examinations were conducted. The examinations demonstrated that man may well adapt to long-term space flight, retaining good health and a high work capacity. The changes seen postflight were reversible and disappeared completely after a relatively short readaptation period. Postflight changes did not correlate with the flight duration. A reasonable work-rest cycle and various physiological countermeasures were used, the efficiency of which were substantiated by means of regular medical examinations. These methods helped the cosmonauts to maintain good health status and adequate performance inflight and facilitated their readaptation postflight. Medical investigations performed during the Salyut-6 flights indicate that the duration of manned space flight can be increased.
Subject(s)
Aerospace Medicine , Space Flight , Body Weight , Erythrocytes/chemistry , Heart Rate , Hemoglobins/analysis , Humans , Lower Body Negative Pressure/adverse effects , Stroke Volume , Time Factors , USSR , Weightlessness/adverse effectsABSTRACT
In 1975 the Soviet Union performed two manned flights on board the orbital station Salyut 4. The first mission of 30 days was flown by A. A. Gubarev (Commander) and G. M. Grechko (Flight Engineer) and the second mission of 63 days by P.I. Klimuk (Commander) and V.I. Sevastyanov (Flight Engineer). The present paper gives preliminary data on the general health and cardiovascular investigations of the crew members during and after flight. The clinical and physiological examinations of the cosmonauts showed that the work-rest cycles and counter-measures used helped to maintain their good health and high performance in flight, to alleviate adverse reactions and to facilitate readaptation post-flight. Medical results of the post-flight investigations revealed no changes that may detract from further increasing the duration of manned space missions.
