The crew of Inspiration4, the world’s first all-civilian human spaceflight
mission to orbit, announced today that they will partake in a
first-of-its-kind health research initiative to increase humanity’s
knowledge on the impact of spaceflight on the human body. Once in orbit, the
crew will perform carefully selected research experiments on human health
and performance, which will have potential applications for human health on
Earth and during future spaceflights. Additionally, SpaceX, the
Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College
of Medicine and investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine will collect
environmental and biomedical data and biological samples from Inspiration4’s
four crew members before, during, and after this historic spaceflight.
“The crew of Inspiration4 is eager to use our mission to help make a better
future for those who will launch in the years and decades to come,” said
Jared Isaacman, commander of the Inspiration4 mission. “In all of human
history, fewer than 600 humans have reached space. We are proud that our
flight will help influence all those who will travel after us and look
forward to seeing how this mission will help shape the beginning of a new
era for space exploration.”
SpaceX, TRISH, and investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine aim to continue
broadening access to space medicine research by making all biomedical data
collected for the Inspiration4 mission accessible through an open data
repository funded and overseen by TRISH that can be easily accessed for
research purposes. Empowered by NASA’s Human Research Program, TRISH is a
virtual institute that finds and funds disruptive science and medical
technology in order to reduce health and performance risks in space
explorers. The Inspiration4 crew will conduct the following TRISH-sponsored
research:
- Collect research-grade ECG activity, movement, sleep, heart rate and rhythm, blood oxygen saturation, cabin noise and light intensity.
- Perform a series of tests in the Cognition app designed to assess changes in behavioral and cognitive performance. This is the same app that is currently used by astronauts in NASA-funded research studies.
- Scan organ systems via a Butterfly IQ+ Ultrasound device, which is designed with artificial intelligence guidance for non-medical experts. Data collected will determine if non-medical experts can self-acquire clinical grade images without guidance from ground support and will provide a timeline of biological changes before and during spaceflight.This device is also currently being tested by astronauts on the International Space Station.
- Collect and test drops of blood during spaceflight for markers of immune function and inflammation using a state-of-the-art miniaturized device called the Vertical Flow Immunoassay (VFI).
- Use balance and perception tests pre-flight and immediately post-flight to measure sensorimotor adaptation during changes of gravity. These tests are currently performed by astronauts upon return from spaceflight.
- Archive, fully analyze, and share resulting biomedical samples and data in collaboration with investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and research data in an open format database to enable greater collaborative research.
In addition, SpaceX is collaborating with investigators at Weill Cornell
Medicine to perform a longitudinal, multi-omic analysis of the crew,
including genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, microbiome,
metabolome, exosome, telomere, single-cell V(D)J immunophenotyping and
epitope maps, and spatial transcriptome analysis. These samples and data
will be added to a planned Biobank that will hold cryogenically-frozen
samples and data from the Inspiration4 mission.
Investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine have worked closely with SpaceX’s
medical team on the Inspiration4 sample collection and aim to replicate many
of the same protocols and experiments that were pioneered in the NASA Twins
Study and the Biomolecular Sequencer Missions. WorldQuant is providing
funding support for the work at Weill Cornell Medicine. The planned Biobank
will hold aliquots of the human, microbial, and environmental specimens that
are collected before, during, and after missions and enable long-term
research and health monitoring for astronauts.
SpaceX is targeting September 15 for Falcon 9’s launch of the Inspiration4
mission from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The
three-day mission will target approximately a 575 km orbit, flying farther
from Earth than any human spaceflight since the Hubble Space Telescope
repair missions. Inspiration4’s goal is to inspire humanity and raise money
for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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