Being a doctor taught an astronaut how to live in space

How and how have these experiences affected the time spent in space?

Every astronaut is different. There is no fixed path. What space agencies are really looking for is all kinds of trading, because once you’re in space, you have to deal with almost any problem.

I’m really an engineer. My main trend is my love of machines. I like to solve problems and then put them in a box. I think the basic definition of medicine is of interest to people. You put yourself in someone’s shoes and then you decide, “What would I do if I, or my brother, or my mother?” That’s what I found fascinating in medicine. It places you at the heart of being human. It helps you cut through the noise of culture to get to the hearts of individuals. It is very useful in space. You can talk in a very calm way and put things in perspective and be helpful. And it’s always relaxing if there’s a condition on the board. It is up to the crew to take care of each other.

You went back to being a doctor during the pandemic. Has being in space changed from a medical perspective?

I really feel like I’m still in space — I’m on Mother Earth’s ship. That view never leaves me. You can sense the Earth from space and of course it’s beautiful: a blue glow, and at night the oceans and city lights are a pleasant kind of dance to life. But the most spectacular is when you turn your back on the Earth and look the other way. And everything you see is nothing, just empty. You can imagine that this is forever. It is very lovely to see how humans are in this little fragile miracle of a planet. They have given me a kind of loving love for human beings, and how incredible it is to stick to that place and develop this whole culture, to raise children and be inventive and to create art. He encouraged me to love people.

For people who don’t know how space and medicine intersect, how would you describe some of the medical research we’re doing in space that will benefit the people of Earth?

We do a lot of research in space on astronauts. Because there are a bunch of ailments that cause astronauts. Being in a space environment is bad for you. No sense of gravity; space, radiation, isolation and confinement – the stress of this environment is very bad for you. So we are the perfect guinea pigs for medical research: bone health, cardiovascular health, brain health, psychology, psychology, hematology, immunology — that’s the name.

The other aspect is in medical technology. We need astronauts to be able to help themselves and help each other in this very remote environment. This problem is the same as the problem on Earth when we provide medical assistance to people living in rural and remote areas, workers in dangerous environments, military missions, large expeditions, or the elderly. even those who are too weak to go to a clinic. So this problem of bringing medicines to the patient is a very modern thing. And in my opinion, we have given this patient a very big pandemic to bring medicine to the patient — using space to test how these things work.