Space travel: bringing medical discoveries down to Earth

Space travel has necessitated intensive study of certain physical conditions, notably cardiovascular deconditioning, motion sickness, musculoskeletal atrophy and psychological isolation. Benefits of this research are beginning to be available to terrestrial medicine, for example in research on osteoporosis and motion sickness. Other space technology of benefit to medicine includes diagnostic and therapeutic devices, transmission of medical data and satellite communications. A permanently inhabited space station is planned for the 1990s and further research into isolation, occupational hazards in remote locations, transportation of accident victims and stabilization awaiting transportation can be expected, all with probable spinoffs for terrestrial medicine. Space is also a good environment for production of very pure, specific pharmaceuticals, such as alpha1-antitrypsin, interferon and pancreatic beta cells.