Exposure to spaceflight, particularly microgravity, induces profound physiological alterations that compromise neuromusculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems. These changes lead to muscle atrophy, bone demineralization, postural instability, and other functional deficits. Physiotherapy and related countermeasures, including tailored exercise regimens and structured rehabilitation protocols, are central to mitigating these effects during and after space missions.
Spaceflight imposes unique stressors on the human body due to the absence of Earth’s gravitational load, leading to systemic physiological adaptations. While space agencies have developed exercise countermeasures to moderate deconditioning, astronauts still face significant health challenges both during missions and upon return to Earth’s gravity. Physiotherapy plays a critical role in preparing, supporting, and rehabilitating astronaut health through evidence-based interventions.

Neuromusculoskeletal Deconditioning
Prolonged microgravity exposure leads to pronounced muscle atrophy and bone density loss, especially in weight-bearing structures such as lower limbs and the spine. Astronauts can lose significant muscle strength and up to 1–2% of bone mass per month without consistent loading stimuli. These changes parallel muscle atrophy and deconditioning observed in terrestrial patients subjected to prolonged immobilisation.
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Sensorimotor and Postural Control Deficits
Spaceflight results in impairments in postural control and dynamic gait performance due to altered vestibular inputs and neuromuscular coordination. Astronauts show significant decrements in balance and sensorimotor function upon return to Earth, comparable to the effects seen in bed-rest analog studies.
In microgravity and related analog environments, discrepancies may arise between actual body position and perceived orientation.
(A) When sensory inputs are aligned, posture is maintained with accurate perception of body position.
(B) Under conditions of reduced or conflicting sensory input, such as limited visual feedback, a mismatch can occur between actual and perceived orientation. The individual may physically lean in one direction while perceiving a lean in the opposite direction. Despite this discrepancy, stability can still be maintained.
Such orientation illusions are commonly observed on entry into weightlessness and depend on the available sensory information. In the absence of visual input, tactile cues become dominant in determining perceived orientation. Interpretation of foot pressure and support loading may therefore lead to an incorrect perception of body position.

Cardiovascular Deconditioning
The absence of gravity alters cardiovascular function by shifting fluid distribution cephalad and reducing cardiac preload. This can result in orthostatic intolerance upon re-exposure to gravity, necessitating countermeasures to preserve cardiovascular fitness. 

Role of Physiotherapy and Exercise Countermeasures 
Pre-mission and In-flight Interventions
Physiotherapists within space agency health teams assist in individualized preparation before missions, optimizing neuromusculoskeletal readiness and cardiovascular fitness. They also monitor exercise performance on the International Space Station (ISS) and adapt protocols to maintain physiological function. 
Standard exercise countermeasures, including aerobic and resistive training, are mandatory during missions. These reduce the severity of multisystem deconditioning, though they do not fully negate all physiological declines observed after flight. 

Rehabilitation Post-flight
Upon return to Earth, astronauts require structured rehabilitation similar to terrestrial physiotherapy. Rehabilitation focuses on restoring postural control, muscle strength, balance, and functional mobility. Postflight rehabilitation shares many principles with musculoskeletal and deconditioning rehabilitation performed in clinical settings for elderly or immobilized patients. 

Conclusion
As missions extend beyond low-Earth orbit toward Mars and deep space, physiological stressors will intensify. Current exercise countermeasures and physiotherapy support will need to evolve to address prolonged exposure to microgravity, radiation, and isolation. Novel approaches—including wearable technologies and adaptive interventions tailored to individual responses—may enhance health outcomes in future exploration class missions.
The physiological demands of spaceflight necessitate a comprehensive approach to astronaut health. Physiotherapy, incorporating individualised exercise prescription and rehabilitation protocols, is essential for mitigating neuromusculoskeletal and cardiovascular deconditioning in space and facilitating recovery upon return to gravity. Continued integration of physiotherapy into space agency health strategies will be critical as human space exploration enters longer and more challenging missions.

From Imagination to Reality
​Staying in space for a few days, weeks, or even long-term missions has now become a reality. What once began as a single step on the Moon has evolved into the possibility of residing there for six months or longer, an evident transition from imagination to execution. This progression raises an important question: is it always possible to imagine something and successfully execute it in a way that results in learning and tangible benefits? 

Exploration Beyond Space​
Space missions are often portrayed as the pinnacle of human exploration. However, does that imply that science was not flourishing before the concept of space exploration emerged? In fact, it was. Philosophers and astronomers were already shaping human understanding by observing the cosmos, while early scientists designed compasses and navigation tools to determine direction and expand exploration on Earth. 
Restricting the concept of exploration solely to space missions confines imagination to a single direction. Exploration within the human body, the depths of the oceans, the skies, or the Earth itself is equally valid and profoundly impactful.

Adapting Humans to an Alien Environment
To counter these effects, innovative solutions are being developed, including precision medicine, advanced life-support systems, and ergonomically designed spacesuits. If challenges exist, humans find solutions, even long before the modern era of artificial intelligence. Imagine the prospect of walking freely in space without protective equipment or technological support? It is indeed a daunting idea. Imagination moves swiftly, whereas execution demands a well-planned strategy and substantial investment; it cannot be random.​

The Gap Between Habitat and Biology
Fish survive effortlessly in water because it is their natural habitat, while reptiles and mammals thrive on land for the same reason. This leads to a critical question: what is missing in space that prevents humans from inhabiting it naturally?
The human body’s adverse response to space is not unnatural; it is simply a reaction to an environment for which it was never designed. The fundamental gap lies in the mismatch between habitat and biology. The challenge, therefore, is not merely exploring space, but redefining or adapting ourselves to survive in an environment where we do not inherently belong.

Turning Imagination into Innovation
Thus, we are creating a habitat that is not meant for us, while attempting to make ourselves inhabitants of a place where we truly belong. Artificial intelligence is a highly debated topic. It amplifies possibilities beyond imagination. However, the human drive to push beyond boundaries remains the true source of control. This cognitive capacity continues to propel humanity forward while also carrying an inherent responsibility.

Imagination is a natural, inbuilt human trait, one that exists even before the urge to explore. Here, imagination must be translated into execution.

Imagination, combined with the ability to execute, creates novelty and innovation. Having high imagination but low execution reflects a passive thought process influenced by several limiting factors.

In A Technique for Producing Ideas, James Webb Young outlines five steps for idea generation:

1. Gathering raw material
2. Digesting the material
3. Unconscious processing
4. The “Aha!” moment
5. Shaping and developing the idea

An idea may arise from mystical imagination or be produced through systematic techniques. However, bypassing the human brain in generating a nascent idea would be difficult, while execution may require a structured program.

Creativity and the Human Brain
Harvard researcher Shelley Carson explains in Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life that creativity is not a mysterious talent but a skill that can be deliberately activated.
Drawing on neuroscience and psychology, she explains how different regions of the brain contribute to imagination, focus, and execution. Carson offers practical techniques to shift between expansive, idea-generating states and disciplined, productivity-driven modes of thinking.
By learning how to balance these mental states, individuals can bridge the gap between bold imagination and real-world outcomes, turning creative insights into meaningful action.
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Evelyne Wang:
In December 2025, I participated in UMIC’s first indoor underwater “Lunar Farm” remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mission.
In early February 2026, under the guidance of Antonio P. Yocol, Head of the Offshore Resources Management Department of Zamboanguita City, Philippines, and UMIC Commander Chris Yuan, I completed a six-day scuba diving training programme followed by a two-day artificial reef restoration and coral planting project in the Philippine Sea.
The mission focused on restoring coral communities damaged by typhoons while contributing to the rebuilding of the seabed ecosystem.
Yet this project was designed to explore something more than ecological restoration alone.
Unlike conventional artificial reef deployments, this mission also functioned as a simulated lunar habitat construction exercise.

Structure and Construction:
The artificial reef consisted of eighteen 4-metre concrete pillars, each weighing approximately 850 kilograms. These pillars were lowered from the ship by crane.
On the seabed, divers operated without heavy machinery. Movement and positioning depended entirely on buoyancy bags, counterweights, and carefully coordinated underwater teamwork.
Precision and control became far more important than brute force.

Exploration, experience, and extension are intrinsic human behaviours and attitudes toward life. Whether it is an ordinary person living life in their own way or someone belonging to a particular group, everyone naturally follows this behavioural pattern. This attitude toward life does not belong to people of any specific field or domain; it is a universal human way of thinking. 
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When two people rubbed stones together for the first time, they did not know it would produce fire. It was exploration that motivated them to try. That exploration led to experience, in the form of fire, which they later extended and used for their own benefit. 

This cycle never stops, and it never will. I believe the motivation to explore is something we are born with. By the age of 24 months, babies begin to ask, “What’s that?” This shows that exploration is a basic human instinct. Therefore, we can say that exploring is a fundamental human right and reflects an individual’s attitude towards life. 
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Narrowing down the concept of exploration is a big injustice to this broad term when it is associated only with research and science. Let’s dig deeper: as human beings, are we only responsible for living a balanced life, or are we here to do something more? The immediate answer would definitely be “no.” Why? Because it goes against the thought pattern embedded in our very blueprint. 

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet this week, you will have seen that NASA is bringing the Crew-11 astronauts back from the International Space Station early due to a “medical issue.”
No great details given due to privacy rights, so no name, no diagnosis, and no great drama. Nonetheless, this lack of detail always leads to worry, much speculation and many clickbait headlines to boost page visitor numbers. But to be honest, this event holds no great mystery, it’s nothing weird, in fact, it’s probably overdue!

When we think of space exploration, we generally think of it as something heroic - big rockets, brave astronauts floating around and amazing photos of our planet Earth. What we don’t really talk about is that space is quietly hostile to the human body, not in an exploding spacesuit sci-fi drama sort of way, but in a slow, grinding, biological manner.
The simple fact is that microgravity messes with almost everything:

• Bones start leaking calcium.
• Muscles shrink.
• Blood moves around your body differently.
• Immune system gets confused.
• Eyes can change shape.
• Hearts can alter and not work in the usual way.
• Even old viruses that you had as a child can spark back into life again.

​Astronauts are not ‘ill’ in space in the usual sense, but they are also not ‘normal’ anymore. Instead, their bodies are constantly adapting and compensating for the lack of gravity, and slowly using up their safety margins.

NASA has not revealed exactly what happened to the Crew-11 astronaut who needed to come home and they probably never will. However, the important part really isn’t the specific symptom. The important part is that someone’s body crossed a line where Earth became safer than orbit. This is less about a mission failure and more about highlighting the reality of long-duration spaceflight.
The ISS has been permanently occupied for more than 25 years. In that time, astronauts have had all kinds of health issues up there, even if they were rarely described that way, for example:

• Heart rhythm changes.
• Kidney stones.
• Vision problems.
• Blood clots.
• Immune system crashes.
• People fainting and being unable to stand up when they come home.

​Most of it is explained away in polite language like “out of an abundance of caution” or for “operational reasons”, but this time, Crew-11 has said the quiet part out loud.

​Early space missions were short, just days or weeks. You could grit your teeth and push through, and before you knew it you were returning to Earth again. Nowadays, astronauts live on the ISS for six months, and sometimes longer. That turns spaceflight into something very different. It’s no longer a short sprint but more of a long-distance race, with slow exposure to an environment for which the human body was never designed. Astronauts these days are less like explorers and more like participants in long medical experiments, and sometimes experiments can end early.

InnovaSpace Director, Thais Russomano, is a doctor who specialised in space medicine and human physiology, and she will often say that space doesn’t suddenly break you. Rather, it slowly begins to nudge every single body system away from where it is accustomed to being. Most of the time, the body copes and adapts, but sometimes, it doesn’t. So, if NASA says someone needs to come home for medical reasons, it isn’t a mystery. It should be taken as a reminder that although human bodies are incredible, they still come with limits.

Fortunately for Crew-11, being on the ISS means they could come home relatively easily. But what of a Moon crew - maybe not - and a Mars crew - definitely not. There is no quick splashdown from deep space. This story perhaps reflects not so much on one astronaut on one mission, but sharply highlights where we are on a bigger journey.
​We are leaving the era of “Can humans survive in space?” and entering a new era of “Just how long can humans survive in space?”

​When we think of human spaceflight, it’s easy to focus on rockets, spacecraft and mission timelines. Less visible, but just as critical, is the quiet disruption of the body’s natural rhythms. On board the International Space Station, astronauts witness multiple sunrises and sunsets every day, challenging circadian systems that have evolved under a single 24-hour light–dark cycle. Sleep, hormonal regulation, cognition and overall wellbeing all depend on rhythm. The below article written by Dr Maria Helena Itaqui Lopes, originally published in the journal Zero Hora and website GZH, explores rhythm from a clinical and musical perspective, and reminds us that the language of the body matters deeply, whether on Earth or in orbit.

​One day, while studying the biography of Herbert von Karajan, the legendary conductor regarded as one of the greatest in the history of conducting and often referred to as the “conductor of conductors”, I was struck by his reflections on rhythm. He stated that “if no one teaches students the basic disciplines of rhythm, things become impossible”. Although this statement, coming from a musician, may at first seem to relate exclusively to music, in reality rhythm goes far beyond this. It encompasses a sense of balance in physical movement, mental processes, learning, self-care, daily activities and vital energy.

​Our bodies function rhythmically. We need only recall cardiac rhythm, breathing, sleep, digestive function and circadian rhythms, among many others. Of the biological rhythms that regulate bodily function, the circadian rhythm stands out as a central example, as it organises hormonal release in a time-dependent manner. The secretion of cortisol, melatonin, growth hormone and insulin follows patterns that influence metabolism, immune response, cognitive performance and tissue repair. In preventive medicine, recognising these rhythms allows functional variations to be interpreted, the timing of assessments to be guided, and interventions to be individualised.

​Still within the scope of preventive medicine, the starting point for a health review is not defined by age-related calendars nor by the presence of symptoms, but rather by the early recognition of functional changes, taking family history and genetics into account. Beginning an assessment at this stage means respecting an individual’s biological timing, interpreting subtle functional signals and anticipating risks before disease becomes established. In this way, the clinical review becomes a strategy of continuous, personalised care, aimed at preserving autonomy and health over time.

​These notions of the body’s own language interact with our daily activities. Returning to music, we know that a large proportion of Baroque works were written at a tempo of 75 to 80 beats per minute, measured by a metronome (a device used by musicians to regulate tempo by setting beats per minute), which corresponds closely to the average resting heart rate considered normal. It could be said that this synergy is pleasing to most people.

​A medical consultation also has its own rhythm, which is sometimes forgotten or even never learned. A consultation has a beginning, a development, a moment of climax and a conclusion. Expressing empathy either too early or at an inappropriate moment disrupts this balance, and the doctor–patient relationship becomes misaligned. Entering the correct frequency to properly understand a patient is a skill that requires a basic sense of rhythm. An andante tempo (a musical term referring to tempos between 72 and 84 beats per minute) closely resembles our heart rate and therefore feels comfortable to us. In other words, at the start of a consultation or during a visit to a patient in a hospital bed, the encounter should follow a rhythm that conveys safety and support from the doctor. This is a skill that should be better recognised and valued by professionals. From the patient’s perspective, the choice of when to undertake a clinical review should be carefully considered and planned for the new year that is beginning.

​Another, rather striking, story related to rhythm concerns three conductors who died while conducting the third act of Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde. The pauses in this passage are intermittent and irregular, creating tension that can affect both mind and body. Karajan, aware of this and seeking to protect himself, would dissipate this intense tension by using breathing movements to distance himself from the musical strain.
In life, as in music, it is essential to find the right rhythm for each challenge, especially when it comes to caring for one’s own health.

​Yet another year has flown by, and we now say goodbye to 2025 and welcome in 2026. Reflecting on the last twelve months in human space exploration, it feels like a year shaped more by consolidation than by any grand spectacle. Crews continued to live and work aboard the International Space Station, commercial astronaut missions became increasingly routine, and long‑planned space programmes quietly adjusted their timelines in response to technical and human realities. Rather than dramatic milestones, 2025 has offered something perhaps more valuable: a year of learning, reassessment, and preparation. Against this backdrop, the year ahead arrives not with grand promises, but with a sense of renewed direction, a year where people, not just missions, come back into sharper focus.

Stepping into 2026 seems like a good time to pause and take stock of where human space exploration really is. Not where the flashiest headlines suggest it might be, but where those working within the field know it to be. After years of delays, redesigns, and reality checks, there is a sense that progress is resuming, carefully and deliberately, with a renewed emphasis on the human being at the centre of spaceflight.
​2026 may not deliver dramatic firsts or iconic boot‑prints on planetary surfaces, but it should mark a return to forward motion, and in human space exploration, that truly matters.

​One of the most symbolically important missions of the year will be Artemis II. This mission is not about landing. It is about learning, or perhaps relearning, how to send people safely into deep space. It is safety‑focused and cautious by design, and that caution feels exactly right.

​While deep space draws attention, low Earth orbit continues to do much of the heavy lifting by laying the research groundwork. The International Space Station remains an extraordinary laboratory for understanding how the human body and mind respond to life in space. Commercial astronaut missions will no longer be a novelty in 2026, but will form part of the regular rhythm of human activity in orbit.

​China’s human space programme continues to progress at a calm, steady pace. Crewed missions to the Tiangong space station build long‑duration experience, while robotic lunar missions quietly prepare the ground for future human exploration. Different pathways perhaps, but shared human challenges.

​Robotic missions may lack the drama of crewed flights, but they are essential. Lunar south‑pole exploration, including the search for water ice, is practical preparation for a future human presence beyond Earth.

From a personal perspective, 2026 will also mark the very welcome return of the IAA Humans in Space Symposium in Montecatini, Italy. As the only international congress dedicated entirely to humans in space, its focus on physiology, psychology, performance, and wellbeing feels particularly timely.

I wouldn’t consider myself a great poet, far from it, but I would argue the case that poetry (and many of the other arts) have a rightful place in the future of space exploration. Life in space is not only about engineering solutions or medical data. Indeed, many astronauts onboard the ISS have found a need to reflect on and share their experiences, giving us a glimpse of space through human feelings and humour, more specifically through poetry.
Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden published Hello Earth: Greetings from Endeavour in 1974, a collection of poems about his experiences as an astronaut and the feelings of joy and solitude that being in space provoked. Decades later in 2012, Don Pettit shared his own reflections while on the ISS in a short poem entitled Space Is My Mistress. These examples show that astronauts often look beyond scientific reporting, choosing poetry as a way to express moments that are difficult to put into ordinary words.

​Artistic work, including poetry, helps connect the public with space exploration. Scientific papers and technical reports can feel distant, but a poem sparks curiosity and imagination in new audiences. Some projects have even included artists directly in space-related activities, such as analog missions and exhibitions that mix art with science. These efforts highlight that exploration is not only about technology and survival, but also about culture and community. In the long run, creative expression will be an important part of how people adapt to life away from Earth.

​In honour of this blog, I thought I would write a few lines of poetry about spending time on the ISS, though let me remind you I warned in my first sentence that I am far from being a good poet – so bear with me! Here in the UK, I’m of an age that remembers an ITV television talent programme called Opportunity Knocks, decades before Simon Cowell and Britain’s Got Talent appeared on the scene. It was the mid-1970s and onto the stage walked a homely young lady called Pam Ayres, who in a little more than two minutes recited a humorous poem called ‘The Embarrassing Experience With A Parrot’. The audience loved her, I loved her, and my older brother Chris spent the following years of his life reciting Pam Ayres poems as his party trick to impress his friends! Considering all this, and remembering my brother who is no longer with us, I created a short light-hearted ode in the style of Pam Ayres, called Six Months Aloft.

​As we plan for longer missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, it becomes clear that astronauts will need more than machines and medicine to thrive. They will also need ways to express themselves and to stay connected with their own humanity. Poetry, along with other forms of art, helps bring meaning to the experience of living in space. Whether serious or humorous, it reminds us that exploration is not only about survival, but also about creativity, culture, and simply being human.

When humans eventually set foot on Mars, they’ll face a medical challenge that rarely needs to be thought about on Earth - TIME. A radio signal between Earth and Mars can take 4 to 24 minutes to travel one way. That means if an astronaut sends a question to Mission Control, it could be more than 40 minutes before they receive a reply, which in an emergency situation is far too long to wait.
To close this gap, NASA and Google are working together on something called the Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant (CMO-DA), an artificial intelligence system for space medicine designed to support astronauts when Earth is too far away to give immediate help. Think of it as a “medical copilot” that will not replace doctors, but instead will help the crew diagnose and manage problems step-by-step using knowledge adapted specifically to space medicine.

Unlike a standard chatbot, the CMO-DA can work with multiple kinds of input. Astronauts might type or speak questions, upload vital signs, or share images from a portable ultrasound. The system then offers possible causes, highlights urgent warning signs, and suggests treatments that match the very limited supplies they have available to them. The big difference from Earth-based systems is that it’s trained with information that reflects spaceflight medical challenges, such as fluid shifts in low gravity, the increased risk of kidney stones, or how certain drugs behave differently in space.
To test its usefulness, NASA and Google have been running the assistant through structured scenarios. These use the same exam style that medical students face, called Objective Structured Clinical Examinations, where candidates are judged on how well they manage a case. The early results look promising, with the AI decision support tool giving safe, reliable advice, and it helps astronauts approach a situation more clearly under stress.

This project is part of NASA’s broader plan for Earth-Independent Medical Operations. For deep-space missions, it has long been recognised that crews need a much higher degree of autonomy, since communication with Earth may be delayed or even cut off entirely—for example, when Mars is hidden behind the Sun. A tool like the CMO-DA gives astronauts a way to stabilise and treat a patient without waiting for ground communication.
It’s important to remember that the system is meant as support and not as an authority. Ultimately, the astronauts in-situ remain the decision-makers. The assistant provides structured checklists, reminders, and treatment suggestions. It can also document everything that was done and prepare a clear report so that, once communication is restored, doctors on Earth can follow-up what happened and advise on next steps.

The future will bring new features, with researchers aiming to link the assistant to onboard sensors, wearables, and imaging devices, and to test it in Mars analogue missions on Earth. The goal is a complete medical system—crew, tools, and smart software working together to make medical autonomy on Mars a reality.
This technology, however, isn’t just for astronauts. It could also benefit people in remote communities on Earth, where medical access and connectivity are limited. In that way, a tool built for Mars missions medical support might improve healthcare for millions here at home.
NASA and Google’s project shows how AI in aerospace medicine is shifting from science fiction into practical support for space medicine—with potential benefits reaching well beyond Mars.

Microbes are generally associated with infection, and the usual response to their mere presence is to eradicate them as quickly as possible. For example, the “no-rinse soap” used during space travel mainly consist of antimicrobials, i.e. chemicals that kill microbes, with the aim to remove bacteria on the skin.
It is correct that microbes can cause disease, but it is microbes that created an environment and an atmosphere on Earth that allow plants and animals to exist. Microbes are literally everywhere, and we ourselves depend upon microbes to keep our external facing surfaces healthy and to help with the breakdown of food in our gut and production of substances that our body needs. The microbes form actual communities with thousands of species in and on us, for example the gut, respiratory and skin microbiomes, and these communities collaborate with our immune systems.

​To give an idea of their importance, data suggest that it is the pollution from antimicrobials that is the primary responsible for climate change because their impact is very broad and reduces the microbial diversity and changes the microbial balance. Similarly, studies indicate that antibiotics have long-term impact on our health, and they have been shown to increase the frequency of cancer, diabetes, asthma as well as functional impairments in children’s development, immune function, and cognition. Poor gut health, which usually means an unbalanced and low diversity microbiome, has also been associated with mental health problems including depression and anxiety as our gut microbiome is responsible for producing substances needed for normal brain function.
On the International Space Station skin issues and problems with wound healing have been reported. Microgravity and radiation have generally been assumed to be responsible for this and the fact, that “no-rinse-soap” is a cocktail of antimicrobials, has received practically no attention. Antimicrobials are traditionally used for treating wounds, but the US FDA reported in 2016 and again in 2022 that they are ineffective in treating wounds, and studies have demonstrated that antimicrobials directly impair healing and that a healthy wound microbiome is required for healing to take place. These novel conclusions banning antimicrobials in skin care and wound healing are further supported by the positive findings with a new technology, MPPT (micropore particle technology), which acts by regulating the wound microbiome without killing anything. MPPT has been able to achieve 100% wound closure rates, including in complicated wounds and in people with impaired immune function. This observation shows that approaches that support the collaboration between the microbes and the immune system can be much more effective than the traditional, old blanket-bombing approach of eradicating all microbes, which renders the skin debilitated and less resilient.

These observations are relevant to space travel, in terms of both the environment onboard and clothing, food and methods of ”washing”. Our bodies have evolved on Earth, where microbes were and are present, and our evolution has benefited from this as the microbes assist in protecting our surfaces and in delivering nutrients and critical compounds needed for our health. This dependence persists, even if we decide to leave Earth for shorter or longer periods of time. It is therefore a necessity, particularly for deep space travel, which does not permit us returning to Earth periodically to update our microbiome, to develop environments and procedures onboard that can sustain our microbial requirements.
These considerations are based on an article recently published in Frontiers in Public Health, which focuses on the role of antimicrobials in causing climate change from severely damaging the Earth’s microbiome. The impact of antimicrobials on the Earth microbiome and the microbiome inside a space station are comparable as they are both closed systems. It is consequently important to consider the essentiality of the microbial environment, when planning human life outside the Earth’s environment.