Elsevier

Nutrition

Volume 18, Issue 10, October 2002, Pages 797-804
Nutrition

Introduction
History of nutrition in space flight: Overview

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0899-9007(02)00946-2Get rights and content

Abstract

Major accomplishments in nutritional sciences for support of human space travel have occurred over the past 40 y. This article reviews these accomplishments, beginning with the early Gemini program and continuing through the impressive results from the first space station Skylab program that focused on life sciences research, the Russian contributions through the Mir space station, the US Shuttle life sciences research, and the emerging International Space Station missions. Nutrition is affected by environmental conditions such as radiation, temperature, and atmospheric pressures, and these are reviewed. Nutrition with respect to space flight is closely interconnected with other life sciences research disciplines including the study of hematology, immunology, as well as neurosensory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, circadian rhythms, and musculoskeletal physiology. These relationships are reviewed in reference to the overall history of nutritional science in human space flight. Cumulative nutritional research over the past four decades has resulted in the current nutritional requirements for astronauts. Space-flight nutritional recommendations are presented along with the critical path road map that outlines the research needed for future development of nutritional requirements.

Introduction

The purpose of this introductory article is to review the historical efforts that resulted in our current knowledge of space flight nutrition and food science. Based on this knowledge, joint US–Russian nutritional recommendations (Table I) were developed and implemented.1 Humans have adapted well to space flight, and over the past 40 y, we have substantially increased our understanding of the various physiologic changes that occur during and after space flight.2 However, the underlying mechanisms for many of these alterations remain unclear. The articles in this special issue collectively describe prior and ongoing nutritional research undertaken with the goal of assuring human health and survival during space flight. Nutrition and food science research overlap with or are integral to many other aspects of space medicine and physiology including psychological health, sleep and circadian rhythmicity, taste and odor sensitivities, radiation exposure, body fluid shifts, and wound healing and to changes in the musculoskeletal, neurosensory, gastrointestinal, hematologic, and immunologic systems. Recent advances in genomics and proteomics are just beginning to be applied in space biomedical research, and it is likely that findings from such studies will be applicable to applied human nutritional science. The US space life sciences research community has developed a set of critical questions and a road map (Fig. 1) to clearly emphasize research efforts that ultimately will reduce to humans the risk associated with space travel and habitation.3 Relevant research has been conducted in space and on the ground using animal models and human ground-based analogs.4

Throughout the four-decade history of human space flight, nutrition and food research have been an integral component of various missions (Table II). On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first successful orbital satellite, Sputnik 1. Nearly 4 y later, on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, orbited the Earth for 1 h 48 min in Vostok 1, becoming the first human to experience the sense of weightlessness technically termed microgravity or hypogravity. In the following month (May 5, 1961), the first US suborbital space flight by American astronaut, Alan Shepard, lasted about 15 min. A few months later (August 1961) in Vostok 2, Soviet cosmonaut, German Titov, became the first human to eat in space, an event that heralded the need for space flight nutrition support and research. The first American in orbital flight was John Glenn (February 20, 1962) in a Mercury capsule launched by an Atlas rocket. Glenn was the first American to consume food in the environment of space during this historical flight. Although seemingly insignificant now, at the time no consensus existed among American scientists concerning the ability of humans to eat, swallow, and process food normally in the microgravity of space and the prior experience of the Soviets was unknown to American specialists. Astronaut Glenn’s meal included 80 kcal of applesauce, 130 kcal of beef and gravy, and 60 kcal of vegetables, all consumed at ambient temperatures with no utensils5 and provided in aluminum tubes. The first woman to eat in space was Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, aboard Vostok 6, a nearly 3-d flight during June 1963. From 1961 through 1963, during the Soviet Vostok and American Mercury programs, life science studies were primarily observations of physiologic effects such as postflight orthostatic intolerance (difficulty staying in an erect position). As missions were lengthened, life science studies became more important, and within this framework nutritional research has expanded in scope.2 Human presence in space has been nearly continuous since these early flights. Missions have ranged from about 15 min to 14 mo, with goals varying from global environmental surveillance to lunar exploration. With each generation of spacecraft, the typical mission length progressively increased until the mid-1990s, when many human space missions lasted from 3 to 6 mo. Until the beginning of the International Space Station (ISS), all human habitable spacecrafts were built by the Soviet Union/Russia or the United States, and both countries have made enormous contributions to human space-flight capabilities, science, and technology. The ISS is a joint effort of international partners including the European Space Agency, Japan, Russia, Canada, Brazil, and the United States.

Section snippets

US missions

Gemini missions, as implied by the name, were flown with two crew members.2 Of the 10 missions, the shortest was about 4 h and the longest was nearly 14 d. The first space rendezvous and the first extravehicular activity were successfully completed, thus providing invaluable knowledge for future engineering and operational activities. The Gemini experience vastly increased our understanding of human performance in space and provided the basis for many improvements in extravehicular space suits.

Soviet/Russian missions

The Soyuz missions brought dramatic changes in the Soviet Union’s human space program. With crews of two or three cosmonauts, mission lengths were increased up to 237 d. Multiple Soyuz spacecraft designs were launched, with upgrades for each new model. The Soyuz missions conducted life sciences research that provided the foundation for the Salyut space station era. These flights had durations ranging from 8 to 326 d and provided important medical sciences research. Studies focused on the

International space station

The ISS is providing another phase of human life in space flight. The collective extravehicular activity time scheduled will total about 500 h, more than the total extravehicular time logged by the Soviet/Russian and US space programs combined through 1998. Basic research will exploit microgravity as a laboratory tool to explore many facets of molecular biology and cell culture. Eventually all 16 international partners will provide crew members, making the station a space-borne international

Environmental aspects of space flight

Space flight exposes astronauts not only to microgravity and increased ionizing radiation levels but also to many potentially adverse factors associated with living in the confined volume of a spacecraft. These include changes in atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity; elevated levels of air contaminants and CO2; and increased psychological stress.16 Although microgravity itself is probably the driving force for many of the changes in skeletal muscle structure and function,

Nutrition and physiologic changes

Before the initial human flights into space, little was known about the physiologic aspects of space travel. For example, there were initial concerns about the ability to swallow, anorexia, and nausea in a microgravity environment, but it is now clear that cosmonauts and astronauts easily consume food and water.9

During various periods of their space programs and missions, the Soviet Union/Russia, the US, the European Space Agency, and Japan have focused on medical and life sciences research.

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