After the Challenger

THE tragic loss of the space shuttle Challenger and its crew intensifies the need to identify meaningful long-term goals for the space program. The current hiatus in activities in space should be used to reexamine the fundamental question that has persisted despite nearly three decades of space flight: What potential benefits from the exploration of space justify risk to humans and economic investment? Since biomedical experimentation, observation, and processing of materials are peaceful pursuits with the potential to improve the human condition on earth, these initiatives may justify risk and expense. In this paper I shall review past biomedical activities . . .

[1]  L R Young,et al.  Spatial orientation in weightlessness and readaptation to earth's gravity. , 1984, Science.

[2]  D. R. Morrison,et al.  Electrophoretic separation of kidney and pituitary cells on STS-8. , 1984, Advances in space research : the official journal of the Committee on Space Research.

[3]  M. Hilleman.  Whither immunization against viral infections? , 1984, Annals of internal medicine.

[4]  James A. Van Allen,et al.  Space Science, Space Technology and the Space Station , 1986 .

[5]  A. Chang,et al.  Observations on the systemic administration of autologous lymphokine-activated killer cells and recombinant interleukin-2 to patients with metastatic cancer. , 1985, The New England journal of medicine.

[6]  F. A. Vicente,et al.  PREPARATION OF LARGE-PARTICLE-SIZE MONODISPERSE LATEXES IN SPACE: POLYMERIZATION KINETICS AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT , 1984 .

[7]  M. Whittle,et al.  Bone mineral changes: the second manned Skylab mission. , 1976, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[8]  Nello Pace,et al.  Weightlessness: a matter of gravity. , 1977 .

[9]  P J Goodford,et al.  Drug design by the method of receptor fit. , 1984, Journal of medicinal chemistry.

[10]  Craig Covault.  First comet probe reveals structure of great complexity , 1985 .

[11]  L F Dietlein,et al.  U.S. manned space flight: the first twenty years, a biomedical status report. , 1981, Acta astronautica.

[12]  T W Perry,et al.  Spacelab mission 4--the first dedicated life sciences mission. , 1983, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[13]  Berry Ca.  Medical legacy of Skylab as of May 9, 1974: the manned Skylab missions. , 1976 .

[14]  R A Weinberg.  The molecules of life. , 1985, Scientific American.

[15]  H S Wolff.  Animal experiments: Biological experiments in Spacelab , 1977, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[16]  W. Littke,et al.  Materials: protein single crystal growth under microgravity. , 1984, Science.

[17]  J. West,et al.  Distribution of pulmonary ventilation and perfusion during short periods of weightlessness. , 1978, Journal of applied physiology: respiratory, environmental and exercise physiology.

[18]  M. Waldrop.  Space Commerce: The Quest for Coherence: Space commerce is now a stormy adolescent; the Administration, like a first-time parent, wonders how to set the rules. , 1984, Science.