Elon Musk’s space travel company SpaceX wants to put two tourists on the moon in 2018. President Trump wants NASA to repurpose a 2019 rocket launch into a crewed lunar mission by 2020.
Putting humans, especially private citizens, into space raises physiological, psychological, engineering, and ethical questions that we should revisit in the context of 21st century technology and six decades of spaceflight history, says Scott Parazynski, M.D., an explorer, former astronaut and space physiology expert now at Arizona State University.
Parazynski is available to comment on the implications of manned spaceflight, both for individuals going into space and for mission planners.
Some of the topics Parazynski can address:
• What are the physiological and psychological rigors of manned spacelight, and how can an individual prepare for them?
• What are some of the considerations for mission planners when humans are aboard?
• What have we learned about manned spaceflight, and how might it be different today than it was for the Apolla 11 crew or the space shuttle astronauts?
• What are the arguments for and against manned spaceflight, and what can humans do better than robotic probes and rovers?
Parazynski is a University Explorer and Professor of Practice in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering. As a veteran of five space shuttle missions, he logged more than eight weeks in space and performed seven spacewalks—including the most dangerous EVA (extravehicular activity) in history. He is a graduate of Stanford Medical School trained in emergency medicine and trauma, and an expert in space physiology with particular expertise in human adaptation to stressful environments. He’s also a scuba diver, mountaineer, and seaplane pilot. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2016.