Is Space Nursing really a thing?!

With our very own Prof Thais Russomano having recently contributed to the published article - "Space Nursing for the Future Management of Astronaut Health in other Planets: A Literature Review", we thought we would highlight this niche area of nursing  and ask good friend Lisa Evetts to write a few words about the role she undertook in 2011 as a Flight Nurse at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. Many thanks to Lisa for agreeing to give us an insight into the work with which she was involved.

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Author: Lisa Evetts

Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialist; Former European Astronaut Flight Nurse at the EAC, Cologne 

​I became involved in Space research whilst my husband was completing his PhD in the early 90s, acting as ‘flight nurse’ for several parabolic flight human research studies. I went on to co-develop the Evetts/Russomano (ER) technique for basic life support in space, while continuing to work as a renal specialist nurse in the UK.

Performing CPR using Evetts-Russomano technique, ESA parabolic flight campaign 2000

​In 2011, I became the sole flight nurse for the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. I enjoyed two successful years working closely with the flight surgeons within the Operational Space Medicine Unit (OSMU), as it was called then. I was part of a team responsible for the day-to-day management and administration necessary for maintaining ESA (European Space Agency) Astronaut health. One of my key responsibilities was to track and retrieve data from medical events related to ‘pre’, ‘in’ and ‘post’ space flight activities.  
 
The role also involved working as the interface between OSMU, NASA, the ESA flight clinic and occasionally the Russian Space Agency, coordinating somewhat complex planning to ensure all flight medical examinations were completed within a rigid timescale from an Astronaut’s initial mission assignment, 18 months before they flew, to two years post-mission. The examinations took place at the locations of all 3 agencies to accommodate an Astronauts packed international training schedule. Astronauts who weren’t assigned to a mission, also required coordination of annual medicals locally.

European Astronaut Centre, Cologne (Photos: ©ESA)

​I particularly enjoyed good relationships with the NASA flight nurses who I had the pleasure to meet when visiting the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It was a great opportunity to meet all those I had been communicating with by phone and email, to cement our good working relationships.
 
I represented OSMU at weekly events such as the astronaut training coordination meetings, where planning and updates on training schedules and upcoming flight assignments would be discussed. Each team involved in preparing an Astronaut for flight was granted a certain number of hours of the astronaut’s time from a packed pre-mission schedule, to complete the necessary training and preparatory requirements. Arduous negotiations were required with other departments and the agency central mission organisation authority, should a team think they needed extra time to complete their activities.
 
As the Flight Nurse I was responsible to lead weekly clinical meetings to update the flight surgeons on any new information and issues relating to an astronaut’s health and the work underpinning their welfare.

Nurses have been associated with the space program from the very beginning of human spaceflight, with Dee O'Hara being appointed in November 1959 as the first nurse of the NASA Mercury Program. Although a niche area, more opportunities for space nurses are emerging with the involvement of commercial entities such as SpaceX and will continue to grow with the arrival of space tourism and plans to return to the Moon.