• Question: is there a medical team that comes to space with you?

    Asked by ShannonRooney to Andrea, Charlie 🚀, Col Op, Kirsty, Vinita on 17 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Kirsty Lindsay

      Kirsty Lindsay answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      Nope- the medical team works form the ground and talk to the spacecraft via radio, this is called telemedicine.

      The astronauts are trained to do some medical things, like a really well trained first aider, in case anything happens on the ISS. If someone is really poorly or hurt they would be evacuated back to the medical team on Earth.

    • Photo: Andrea Boyd

      Andrea Boyd answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      Nope – some astronauts are Doctors. Most are Engineers though. The crew do medical training and dentist training including spending time working in an Emergency Room in the Hospital as part of the normal Astronaut training. So they have equipment and can deal with lots of things by themselves. Crew have a Private Medical Conference with their Flight Surgeon (that’s what we call the astronaut doctor) on Earth every week. They do their own ultrasounds and ocular heath checks and a specialist on the Earth can analyse it in real time. (These are also Private sessions – Private means private audio and video, only the Doctor can see/hear). Astronauts also have a Private Psychological Conference with their personal Psychologist once a month and they have a Private Exercise Conference a few times per mission (three or four I think) with their Sports Trainer. (If you like sport there’s a fun space job you can do – Astronaut Personal Fitness Trainer!)

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