<
https://theconversation.com/what-if-disabled-astronauts-are-just-better-suited-to-space-287222>
"The UK Space Agency and space startup Vast just signed an agreement to send
Paralympic sprinter and below-knee amputee John McFall into orbit as early as
2027. Most coverage framed it as a victory for inclusion. As a space health
researcher, I think something far more interesting happened.
For 70 years, spaceflight has assumed a rigid archetype: a healthy white man
with a military background. The assumption was that physical uniformity
minimised risk. As we prepare for Mars, the evidence increasingly suggests the
opposite.
Star Trek understood this decades ago: exploration rewards difference. The
further you travel into uncertainty, the more kinds of human experience you
need. It debuted in 1966 with a Black female communications officer, a Japanese
helmsman, a Russian navigator, a biracial Vulcan, and a captain who made
mistakes and felt his humanity down to the last drop.
What strikes me now as a scientist is not how idealistic that vision was, but
how practical. Despite decades of spaceflight, we still cannot reliably predict
how one person’s health will change in space. Consider Mars 500, a 520-day
simulated isolation mission between 2007 and 2011 where six male crew members
in identical conditions diverged dramatically in psychological resilience. Two
participants remained stable; three developed severe sleep disturbances; and
one suffered persistent depression.
Additionally, around 17% of astronauts experience significant physical
deterioration in spaceflight despite following identical exercise regimes.
Disability does not necessarily introduce uncertainty into spaceflight;
uncertainty is already the norm."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
