No matter how far man ventures into space, present planning calls for medical monitoring to be part of the mission—but the concept of the medical watch over the astronauts will be different.
"Multi-manned, long duration space flights," say physicians at the Air Force Aerospace Medical Division, "call for different concepts of medical monitoring compared to past programs.
"In a space laboratory, for example, the vehicle will be large enough, and the number of tasks to be performed diverse enough, to permit and demand extreme mobility. Further, the presence of two men able to inspect each other modifies the need for medical monitoring.
Medical Monitoring
"In general, it might be said that medical monitoring in long-duration flights such as the MOL (manned orbiting laboratory) will be oriented primarily toward obtaining quantitative information relative to a number of physiological parameters which will be used for making predictive judgments."The specific MOL program,