Strategy for Research in Space Biology and Medicine in the New Century

摘要

The core of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) life211u001esciences research lies in understanding the effects of the space environment on 211u001ehuman physiology and on biology in plants and animals. The strategy for achieving 211u001ethat goal as originally enunciated in the 1987 Goldberg report, A Strategy for 211u001eSpace Biology and Medical Science for the 1980's and 1990s, remains generally 211u001evalid today. However, during the past decade there has been an explosion of new 211u001escientific understanding catalyzed by advances in molecular and cell biology and 211u001egenetics, a substantially increased amount of information from flight 211u001eexperiments, and the approach of new opportunities for long-term space-based 211u001eresearch on the International Space Station. A reevaluation of opportunities and 211u001epriorities for NASA-supported research in the biological and biomedical sciences 211u001eis therefore desirable. The strategy outlined in the Goldberg report had two main 211u001epurposes: (1) to identify and describe those areas of fundamental scientific 211u001einvestigation in space biology and medicine that are both exciting and important 211u001eto pursue and (2) to develop the foundation of knowledge and understanding that 211u001ewill make long-term manned space habitation and/or exploration feasible.