NASA will send a flight surgeon, two astronauts and a Cincinnati doctor under the ocean off the Florida coast May 7-18 to test space medicine concepts and moon-walking techniques. It is the first undersea mission to include a NASA flight surgeon.
Veteran space flyer Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper will lead the 12-day undersea mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory. NASA Flight Surgeon Josef Schmid, NASA Astronaut Jose Hernandez and Dr. Tim Broderick of the University of Cincinnati complete the crew.
During the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 12 (NEEMO 12), the crew will conduct a variety of advanced medical technology experiments, including robotic telesurgery on simulated patients.
"Schmid's unique experience in space medicine will benefit the mission itself as well as the future development of crew care techniques for long- duration human spaceflight missions," said NEEMO Project Manager Bill Todd of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Hands-on telesurgery demonstrations and robotic telesurgery technology developed and refined within this mission will help surgeons overcome interplanetary communication lag time. Technologies such as surgeon-guided automatic robot function could improve the care of astronauts on future missions to the moon and Mars.
The crew will conduct simulated undersea "moon walks" to test concepts for future lunar exploration. During these simulated moon walks, they will construct an undersea structure with the help of a remotely operated vehicle, similar to what the next travelers to the moon may do. The crew also will practice collecting geological samples to help develop tools and techniques for collecting lunar samples as well as train future lunar explorers to be geologists.
Scientists and school children also will be able to move two remotely controlled surgical robots in Aquarius.