Humanity is reaching for the stars. However, as we prepare for longer and more distant spaceflight, we are challenged to find ways to sustain human health, wellbeing, and resilience in the extreme environments of orbit and beyond. Just as on Earth, human health in Space is determined by physiology, mental wellbeing, and the environment, as well as the legal, economic, social, and cultural systems needed to support human presence in the solar system.
Bringing together expertise from biomedicine, engineering, environmental science, psychology, law, economics, the social sciences, and the arts, the Westminster Space Health Hub uses the extremes of space to study how health, care, and resilience are sustained under pressure, and to translate those insights into better ways of supporting life on Earth.
Our members contribute to research, teaching, and knowledge exchange across many areas, including:
- Space medicine and human physiology in spaceflight
- Effects of microgravity on the human body
- Radiation biology and astronaut health protection
- Psychological health and human performance in extreme and isolated environments
- Nutrition, exercise, and countermeasures for long-duration missions
- Telemedicine, remote care, and digital health technologies for space and Earth applications
- Medical ethics and bioethics of human spaceflight
- International space law, health regulation, and astronaut rights
- Commercial spaceflight, space tourism, and passenger health
- Space health policy and governance
- Terrestrial applications of space health research