Space Station freedom the next step in
our continuing effort to explore beyond
Earth's boundaries as we establish a
permanent presence in space new medical
challenges will have to be met with
longer missions larger crews and the
complexities of a medical rescue the
health of freedoms international crew
will be essential for the success of
this program
the crew health care system or checks is
currently being designed and developed
primarily at NASA's Johnson Space Center
distributed throughout the space station
this system will provide the total
spectrum of crew health care with three
distinct but interconnected components
the exercise countermeasures facility
the environmental health system and the
health maintenance facility following is
a description of the exercise
countermeasures facility or ECF
component in space the human body is not
working against the forces of gravity as
the body adapts to weightlessness
skeletal muscles shrink or atrophy and
bone structure changes these and other
physiological changes are part of the
deconditioning process resulting from
the effect of zero gravity exercise can
be an extremely effective countermeasure
to deconditioning the exercise
countermeasures facility will provide a
comprehensive exercise program so that
future astronauts can remain physically
fit during extended stays in space for
different laboratories at NASA's Johnson
Space Center are working on the exercise
countermeasures facility the exercise
development lab the exercise physiology
lab the anthropometry and biomechanics
lab and the artificial intelligence lab
products from the combined efforts of
these labs will include special exercise
equipment individualized exercise
programs or prescriptions Medical
monitors and computers designed to
integrate the system the exercise
development lab specializes in the
operational and logistical concerns of
exercising in space this lab is also
responsible for development and
integration of exercise hardware and
software with exercise protocols
equipment currently being considered for
use on Space Station freedom includes a
treadmill a combination bicycle rowing
machine and a resistive exercise device
the exercise physiology lab is
developing individualized exercise
programs or prescriptions for
crewmembers this lab is also evaluating
the effectiveness of exercise programs
in preventing or minimizing
deconditioning
the anthropometry and biomechanics lab
is evaluating and establishing the
biomechanical effectiveness of exercise
equipment this will help determine how
well the human body interacts with the
equipment in zero-gravity development of
the biomechanical requirements for intra
Vic Uhler and extra vehicular activities
is also done in this lab the artificial
intelligence lab is responsible for
establishing requirements for database
management data analysis and developing
automation of the exercise protocol so
bored freedom a computer-controlled
expert system using an artificial
intelligence program will be able to
automatically adjust each astronauts
daily exercise regimen in order to test
the exercise equipment and verify the
procedures prior to trials in space
several methods are utilized on the
ground to simulate the microgravity
environment one method uses JSC's
weightless environment test facility
here neutral buoyancy is used to
simulate microgravity conditions another
method used in testing is NASA's kc-135
a modified Boeing 707 airplane the plane
is flown in parabolic arcs to create
approximately 30 seconds of near
weightlessness at the crest of each
parabola dr. bernard harris head of the
exercise countermeasures project at JSC
explains the overall goals of the
project basically there are two types of
exercise that will provide for extended
duration flight aerobic exercise which
will be used with cardiovascular
conditioning and anaerobic exercise will
be used for muscle and bone conditioning
providing exercise training in the
microgravity environment will provide us
a tremendous challenge without gravity
acting on the body we're going to have
design restraint systems which will
actually hold the astronaut to the
exercise equipment with extended
duration missions we're concerned about
the psychological welfare of the crew
and the physiological aspects for this
reason we have designed a motivational
system to be used in conjunction with
the exercise facility exercise in space
is more than staying in condition for
the return to Earth's gravity it is the
key to good health over prolonged
periods of weightlessness as part of the
crew health care system the exercise
countermeasures facility is being
developed today to provide an exercise
program that will improve pre-flight in
flight and post-flight physical fitness
for tomorrow's astronauts
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