Space medicine demands strict medication protocols because the space environment changes how drugs work. Medications act differently in microgravity, and limited medical support means teams have to screen every substance carefully before launch.
Space tourism companies stick to approved medication lists based on NASA’s research and aerospace medicine guidelines. These lists highlight drugs that stay stable and effective in space.
Commonly approved medications include:
Blood thinners cause big problems during space travel. Fluid shifts in the body and anticoagulants together can lead to dangerous bleeding, so most operators ban warfarin, heparin, and similar meds.
Sedatives and strong opioids don’t make the cut either. They can dull your mind, and you really need to stay sharp in case of emergencies or if the crew calls for action.
Insulin gets special attention. It’s still on the approved list, but diabetic passengers go through extra screening. Space doctors have to consider how microgravity messes with blood sugar.
Passengers must declare all prescription meds during their medical screening. Space medicine doctors check each drug for stability, effectiveness, and safety in space.
Medications lose potency faster up there because of radiation and temperature swings. Some research suggests certain drugs degrade up to 50% faster than on Earth, which changes how much you need for longer trips.
Key limitations include:
Heart medications come under close review. Beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors might mess with how the body adapts to microgravity, so the space medicine team checks each case.
Antidepressants and anxiety meds aren’t automatically banned, but doctors take a hard look at them. These drugs can affect how people handle the stress and weirdness of space travel.
Aerospace medicine doctors need to approve all personal medications at least 90 days before launch. This gives everyone enough time to make changes if your current prescriptions aren’t space-safe.
Passengers can’t bring meds in original bottles; there just isn’t room, and it’s not safe. All approved drugs get repackaged in flight-certified containers with clear labels and dosing instructions.
You have to learn how to take your meds in microgravity. Pills float, liquids turn into little spheres, so special techniques keep medication from drifting away or getting breathed in by mistake.
If someone can’t take their meds themselves during critical times, designated crew members step in. Flight crews get override keys for medication storage in case a passenger becomes incapacitated.
Passengers and crew keep detailed logs of every medication taken during the flight. These records help space medicine teams track what works and what doesn’t for future missions.
Space tourism companies require thorough health evaluations to keep passengers safe during commercial spaceflights. Medical screening covers cardiovascular fitness, bone density, and whether your medications play nice with the spacecraft. Some drug use policies can even permanently disqualify you.
NASA puts professional astronauts through a tough, comprehensive medical screening. The first round eliminates anyone with conditions that don’t meet OCHMO-STD-100.1A standards, and there aren’t any waivers at this stage.
Cardiovascular Assessment
Doctors focus on heart health first. They check blood pressure, heart rhythm, and circulation under stress.
Space medicine specialists run electrocardiograms and stress tests to spot hidden problems. Launch acceleration can hit three to four times normal gravity, so your heart needs to handle the pressure.
Neurological Screening
Brain and nervous system tests check reaction time, balance, and cognitive skills. Doctors also look at vision, hearing, and spatial orientation—key abilities for operating a spacecraft.
A history of balance disorders or vertigo gets extra attention. Microgravity really messes with your inner ear, so pre-existing issues can become dangerous.
Bone Density Analysis
Doctors measure bone strength to spot osteoporosis or fracture risks before spaceflight. Space travel speeds up bone loss, so you need a good baseline for safety.
Space tourism companies enforce strict medical standards that rule out passengers with certain health conditions. These rules protect both the individual and the mission.
Cardiac Disqualifications
Heart disease—including coronary artery disease and arrhythmias—usually means you can’t go. Pacemakers can interfere with spacecraft electronics.
High blood pressure needs careful review. If it’s not controlled, the risk of stroke during launch goes way up.
Respiratory Restrictions
Severe asthma or COPD disqualifies travelers. Cabin pressure changes can trigger emergencies, and there’s no ground-based support.
Lung capacity tests help spot any breathing issues that microgravity could make worse. Emergency oxygen systems require you to breathe on your own.
Metabolic Conditions
Managing diabetes in space gets tricky because metabolism and medication timing change. Blood sugar monitors might not work right in zero gravity.
Kidney disease messes with fluid balance, which microgravity already disrupts. Space travelers have to stay hydrated without much outside help.
Your current medications and substance use history directly affect whether you can fly, thanks to safety protocols from commercial spaceflight operators. Space medicine teams test if your meds are compatible with the spacecraft and emergency plans.
Prescription Drug Restrictions
Blood thinners like warfarin raise bleeding risks during launch. Space doctors look at timing and dose adjustments for these meds.
Psychiatric medications require you to show stability over a long period before they’ll approve you. Antidepressants and anxiety meds get a close review for space-specific side effects.
Substance Use Screening
Companies dig into your alcohol and recreational drug use during the medical clearance process. They have zero tolerance for active substance abuse.
If you have a history of addiction, they’ll look at your recovery and treatment on a case-by-case basis. They care a lot about your judgment and how you’d handle emergencies.
Medication Storage Requirements
You have to keep your essential prescription drugs in carry-on containers during the flight. Temperature-sensitive meds face extra storage challenges with the spacecraft’s environmental systems.
Backup supplies for essential prescriptions are a must, especially on multi-day orbital trips.
Medications just don’t behave the same way in space. Reduced effectiveness and stability issues become major worries for space travelers. The conditions on board create challenges for how drugs work in your body and how long they stay potent.
Space medications face stability problems that we don’t see on Earth. For example, research from the ISS found that 35 different pharmaceuticals stored for up to 28 months degraded more than those kept on the ground.
The space environment throws a lot at these meds—radiation, temperature swings, humidity changes, and vibrations from launch and flight.
Radiation is the worst culprit here. Cosmic rays and solar radiation can break down active ingredients and even form toxic byproducts. Earth-based testing doesn’t really account for this.
Temperature inside a spacecraft can jump from really cold to pretty warm. Pills might crumble or change shape, and liquids can separate or crystallize.
Storage is another headache. You have to pack meds into small spaces, and there’s no pharmacy fridge or perfect climate control.
Right now, the fix is to replace meds before they expire. But for longer trips—think Mars—you can’t just restock. That’s a big safety concern for crew health on these longer journeys.
The body processes medication differently in microgravity. Fluid shifts change how drugs move through your system. Blood and fluids head toward your head and torso, which messes with circulation.
These physiological changes touch every stage of drug processing. Absorption rates might slow or speed up, depending on the drug. Distribution changes as your cardiovascular system adapts to weightlessness.
Astronauts often need higher doses of common meds like painkillers to get the same effect as on Earth. Headache meds that work fine on the ground don’t always cut it up there.
Organ function shifts too. The liver and kidneys process meds differently in microgravity, and metabolism rates can go up or down depending on the person.
Space motion sickness and other health issues make things more complicated. Nausea can block proper absorption, and sleep disruption changes how your body eliminates drugs.
Some studies show that certain medications lose up to 40% of their expected effectiveness in space. That’s a huge deal for managing emergencies or chronic conditions during commercial flights.
Space motion sickness hits 60-80% of astronauts in their first three days of microgravity. It’s the most common medical issue in spaceflight, and commercial travelers deal with it too. Other problems like headaches and sleep disorders also require careful medication management.
Space motion sickness is tough to treat in microgravity. About 70% of space travelers feel it within their first 72 hours, with nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and cold sweats.
Doctors use promethazine and scopolamine as the main treatments. Promethazine comes in 25mg doses, either by mouth or injection. Scopolamine patches work too, but you have to put them on before symptoms appear.
Side effects are a real problem. Both drugs can make you sleepy, give you a dry mouth, or mess with your coordination. That’s why space agencies often pause spacewalks or other big tasks during the first few days.
Sometimes doctors combine anti-nausea meds with stimulants like amphetamine to keep people alert. It’s a bit of a balancing act and adds more complexity.
Non-drug options can help too. Pre-flight training with spinning chairs, tilt devices, or vestibular exercises can build up tolerance, so you might not need as many meds once you’re actually in space.
For headaches, astronauts use regular painkillers like acetaminophen and ibuprofen, but sometimes the dose needs adjusting. Microgravity changes how the body processes these meds.
Sleep disorders are common because the sun rises and sets so often in orbit. Zolpidem is the go-to sleep aid for short trips, while melatonin helps keep sleep patterns in check with fewer side effects.
Skin conditions pop up a lot due to tight quarters and different hygiene routines. Topical corticosteroids treat rashes and allergies, and antifungal creams fight fungal growth in the humid environment.
Taking meds in microgravity brings its own set of problems. Liquids float away, so space kits use pre-measured doses, patches, and special injection systems.
Emergency meds always get priority. Antihistamines like diphenhydramine treat severe allergies, and ondansetron serves as a backup anti-nausea drug when the first-line treatments don’t work for someone.
Space missions run into some real headaches when it comes to pharmaceutical supplies. Limited storage space and the harsh environment mess with drug stability in ways we don’t even have to think about on Earth.
The International Space Station and any future deep space missions really have to get creative to keep crew health protected.
Spacecraft designers always chase lower weight and maximum efficiency, which means medical supplies can’t take up much room. Every extra kilogram costs a fortune to launch, so mission planners have to make some tough calls about which meds make the cut.
The International Space Station only sets aside a few compartments for pharmaceuticals. These have to serve several crew members for months at a time.
Storage systems need special containers that keep drugs clean but still let astronauts grab what they need fast if there’s an emergency. That’s not always simple.
Mission length changes everything. Short flights just need a basic kit, but Mars missions? Those need a pharmacy that’ll last years.
Since resupply missions can’t reach crews outside of low Earth orbit, picking the right meds from the start is absolutely critical.
Packaging has to survive the violence of launch and fit into standardized storage. Regular pill bottles and liquid containers don’t really hold up in space.
Custom packaging gets expensive and adds another layer of planning headaches.
Spacecraft deal with wild temperature swings that can ruin medications. Some areas freeze, others overheat under direct sunlight.
These shifts speed up the chemical breakdown of drugs, which is just bad news.
Radiation is another monster. Cosmic rays and solar blasts break down active ingredients, and some meds lose potency after too much exposure. That means crews either need more meds at the start or have to swap them out often—which isn’t really possible on deep space missions.
Studies on the International Space Station show about a third of medications become less stable in space. Meds that need refrigeration are even trickier since spacecraft cooling systems are limited and not exactly reliable.
Humidity control in space can’t match what we have on Earth, so moisture can mess with tablets and liquids. Sealed containers help, but they also use up precious weight and space.
Long space missions really struggle with medication expiration. Astronaut health and even the whole mission could be at risk. Some recent research found that 54 out of 91 medications on the ISS expire within 36 months—a huge problem if you’re heading to Mars or planning a long commercial trip.
A major study in npj Microgravity dug into the ISS’s pharmaceutical stash to figure out how well meds hold up in space. Researchers looked at 91 key drugs—painkillers, allergy meds, sleep aids, nausea pills, all the essentials.
They found some big gaps. Over half of these drugs expire before the 36 months you’d need for a Mars trip. Some, like eye drops, start expiring in just 18 months.
Space agencies hit another wall: in the US, drug shelf life data is proprietary. So, researchers had to check drug registries in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia for real expiration dates.
Critical medication categories at risk include:
Space itself might speed up drug breakdown, thanks to radiation and weird storage conditions. But honestly, nobody’s sure if meds degrade faster in space than they do on Earth.
If astronauts have to use expired meds, it’s a serious gamble. Potency drops over time, so treatments for medical emergencies or chronic issues might not work.
Space travel brings its own set of health risks—bone loss, muscle atrophy, kidney stones, decompression sickness. Meds need to work, period.
Main risks of expired meds:
Space agencies have to weigh mission safety against the reality of expiring meds. In deep space, there’s no resupply, no quick return to Earth.
If someone needs meds right away and they don’t work, things could turn tragic fast. Plus, the stress of relying on maybe-useless meds hangs over the crew.
Agencies are testing a bunch of ideas to deal with expiring meds on long missions. Manufacturing drugs in space is one wild idea—imagine making your own pills on the way to Mars.
Better packaging might help, too. Shielded containers could protect meds from radiation and the elements, stretching shelf life past the usual expiration.
Some solutions in the works:
Researchers are also looking at whether it’s safe to use meds past their expiration dates, at least in space. That data could be a game-changer for mission planning.
For orbital missions, agencies might rotate out meds with each cargo delivery, keeping the stash fresh.
Freeze-dried or concentrated meds could last longer too. These forms resist breakdown and still work when you need them, even after years.
Space travelers deal with medical emergencies in a totally different way. Earth is far away, so commercial spacecraft bring carefully chosen meds and train crews hard to handle acute problems on their own.
Commercial space companies keep their pharmaceutical kits lean, based on the most likely emergencies. Heart meds are at the top since cardiovascular events are the biggest risk during launch and reentry.
Anti-nausea drugs are a must. Scopolamine patches and promethazine tablets help with space motion sickness, which hits up to 70% of new space travelers. Dosing these right is tricky in microgravity.
Pain meds range from basic ibuprofen to stronger stuff for injuries or emergency procedures.
Critical meds usually include:
Space medicine experts worry about drug stability on longer flights. Radiation and other factors can make meds less effective, so planners only pack the essentials.
Flight crews get a lot of medical training since you can’t evacuate to Earth quickly. Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin pilots earn advanced first aid certification. SpaceX missions connect directly with NASA flight surgeons.
If something serious happens, real-time consultation is the go-to. Spacecraft stay in touch with mission control, where aerospace doctors guide treatment.
Standard emergency steps:
Space tourists with pre-existing conditions get custom emergency action plans before launch. These plans spell out exact doses and steps that match their risks and what the spacecraft can handle.
Since there’s no emergency evacuation, prevention and catching problems early are crucial. Crews keep a close eye on everyone, especially during launch and reentry, when most emergencies happen.
The International Space Station enforces strict medication protocols, with screening processes that look nothing like what we use on Earth. Each partner agency adds to the rules, but they also keep their own requirements for crew members.
NASA and its partners keep standardized medical kits on the ISS, with 91 medications ready for use. These cover everything from headaches to cardiac emergencies.
Space medicine teams hand-pick each drug for shelf life and how well it works in microgravity. Research shows 54 out of 91 meds expire within 36 months—definitely a headache for longer missions.
Standard med categories:
Medical officers track which meds crews use most. Data from 24 crew members on 20 long missions shows sleep aids and anti-nausea pills get used a lot, especially in the first weeks.
The ISS team updates med inventories with every cargo resupply. Each drug gets tested to make sure it still works after exposure to space conditions.
Every agency brings its own rules to the ISS. NASA uses FDA guidelines, but the European Space Agency and others have their own standards.
Russian cosmonauts use meds approved by their own authorities, which sometimes don’t match Western choices. Coordinating all this takes serious teamwork among international medical teams.
Key protocol differences:
Doctors from all agencies work together to build unified treatment plans and share data about how meds perform in microgravity.
They also have to watch for drug interactions, especially when crew members from different agencies take meds at the same time. That’s extra important during emergencies.
Civilian space missions follow different medical rules than traditional astronaut flights. Companies aim for flexible screening protocols that balance safety with letting more people fly. Mental health checks and age-related fitness assessments now play a big role in deciding passenger eligibility for commercial space trips.
Space tourism companies don’t set strict age limits. They care more about what your body can handle than how many birthdays you’ve had. The oldest space tourist? Ninety years old—so age isn’t a deal-breaker.
Cardiovascular fitness is a top concern. Launch forces hit 3-6 Gs, which is rough on the heart. Passengers have to pass stress tests and keep blood pressure in check without risky meds.
Companies also check if you can move quickly in an emergency. You need to climb into your seat, fasten safety harnesses, and follow crew instructions.
Physical training programs help older passengers get ready for the ride. Some companies suggest exercises to build core strength and handle G-forces better.
Bone density screening helps find passengers at risk of fractures during launch. Those with severe osteoporosis might get excluded, especially for longer missions where bone loss is a bigger worry.
Space medicine specialists look for anxiety disorders, claustrophobia, and panic conditions that could get worse in a spacecraft’s tight quarters. Passengers have to show emotional stability under pressure and prove they can follow emergency procedures without panicking.
Doctors carefully review psychiatric medications before approving anyone for flight. Antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs sometimes clash with motion sickness meds or mess with cognitive performance during emergencies.
Companies run psychological evaluations to see how people cope with stress. If someone’s handled extreme environments or high-stress jobs before, that usually helps their chances for commercial spaceflight.
Informed consent processes highlight the psychological side of spaceflight—like isolation, slow communication with Earth, and the unavoidable risks. Passengers need to show they understand what they’re signing up for.
A history of substance use impacts medical clearance. Active alcohol or drug dependencies usually mean automatic disqualification, but companies sometimes approve people who’ve recovered and have ongoing medical supervision.
Space medicine has to tackle allergic reactions and drug interactions in the cramped, isolated setting of a spacecraft. With limited pharmacy supplies on board, medical teams plan ahead to keep everyone safe and avoid bad reactions.
Astronauts with allergies take on real risks during missions. The International Space Station stocks antihistamines and epinephrine, but there’s nowhere near the range of meds you’d find on Earth.
Before launch, crew members go through thorough allergy testing. Planners list every known sensitivity and pack whatever meds might be needed. Some space allergens are just odd—like dust particles, cleaning agents, or food preservatives in space rations.
Emergency protocols focus on stabilizing the person right away. Epinephrine auto-injectors serve as the first line of defense for anaphylaxis. If things get worse, corticosteroids step in to control inflammation.
Microgravity makes allergy management trickier. Fluid shifts can cause more facial swelling or breathing trouble. Standard dosing often doesn’t work as expected because of altered drug absorption in space.
Medical teams keep in close touch with ground physicians during an allergic episode. This way, they can get real-time advice when they’re stuck choosing between limited treatment options.
Drug interactions become a bigger deal in space, mostly because you can’t just run to a hospital. Crew medical officers train to spot risky combinations before they become emergencies.
Pre-mission screening weeds out meds with known interaction risks. Pharmacists review every medication, supplement, and emergency drug for compatibility. This step helps avoid dangerous combos right from the start.
Space crews often use meds for sleep, pain, allergies, and motion sickness. These can interact, so timing and dosage have to be just right.
Microgravity changes how the body processes drugs. Some meds hang around longer or don’t work as well. Medical teams adjust protocols to account for these changes.
Ground teams track medication schedules and side effects throughout the mission. They look for patterns that might signal trouble before it gets serious.
Scientists keep pushing space medicine forward with groundbreaking pharmaceutical production and research. These advances help fill big gaps in our understanding of how meds work during long missions far from Earth.
Manufacturing medications in space is a huge leap from Earth-based methods. Microgravity lets scientists create molecular structures you just can’t get on the ground.
Protein Crystal Growth really shines in microgravity. Proteins form larger, more uniform crystals, which leads to better drug development and, possibly, more effective treatments.
Current space-based production focuses on a few things:
The International Space Station acts as the main lab for these experiments. Scientists run tests to see how compounds react without gravity getting in the way.
Manufacturing challenges pop up, like keeping everything sterile and finding enough storage. Temperature control matters a lot, especially for heat-sensitive meds in space’s extreme conditions.
These new methods could change how we treat cancer, diabetes, and other diseases. Space-made drugs might even work better than the ones we make on Earth.
Journals like npj Microgravity are setting the bar for space medicine protocols. They lay out how to test, store, and give out meds during missions.
Pharmacokinetic studies show astronauts’ bodies process meds differently in space. Fluid shifts mess with absorption and distribution.
Some big findings:
Now, guidelines suggest using saliva samples instead of blood for drug monitoring. This keeps things simple and safe for the crew.
Storage protocols get specific about temperature and radiation shielding for different meds. These rules help keep drugs effective on long trips.
Researchers stress the need for personalized dosing. The usual Earth-based amounts might be way off in microgravity conditions.
Looking ahead, scientists want to build real-time monitoring systems for drug effectiveness and set up emergency medical protocols for deep space, where help from Earth isn’t an option.
Space tourists deal with medication challenges that are nothing like what you’d see on a plane. Strict protocols cover everything from pre-flight screening to emergency medical procedures in microgravity. Commercial companies keep tight drug approval lists and storage rules that passengers need to know before launch.
Commercial space tourists can only bring certain meds, based on company-approved lists created by aerospace medicine experts. Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX all keep their own lists, mostly sticking to drugs with proven safety in microgravity.
Anti-nausea meds like scopolamine patches and promethazine tablets are at the top of most lists. These help with space motion sickness, which hits most first-timers during their first taste of weightlessness.
Blood pressure meds go through strict checks during pre-flight medical screening. If you’re on ACE inhibitors or beta-blockers, you need a doctor’s note showing your condition is stable—even under G-forces.
If you need prescription meds for chronic issues, you’ll need lots of paperwork and specialist approval. Diabetes meds, heart drugs, and psychiatric prescriptions all get reviewed one by one by flight surgeons.
Painkillers like acetaminophen and ibuprofen usually get approved for short trips. Companies avoid strong opioids because of their side effects and the risk they pose in emergencies.
The International Space Station uses advanced storage systems to keep meds safe for months or even years. NASA’s Crew Health Care System includes temperature-controlled units that keep drugs stable in microgravity.
Medications arrive on the ISS in sealed containers, shipped up on SpaceX Dragon capsules and other cargo ships. Flight surgeons on Earth keep an eye on inventories and schedule resupplies as needed.
Temperature-sensitive meds like insulin get special treatment in pharmacy refrigerators. These units hold tight temperature ranges, even with the wild temperature swings in low Earth orbit.
Private missions to the ISS follow similar rules. SpaceX Crew Dragon flights bring passenger meds in dedicated kits with environmental controls that match ISS standards.
Ground medical teams track med use through daily private conferences with the crew. If someone needs a dosage change or a new treatment, flight surgeons can approve it based on real-time health checks from orbit.
The Federal Aviation Administration sets the basics for commercial spaceflight medical rules, but leaves most of the pharmaceutical details to each company and their own flight surgeons. The FAA focuses on informed consent, not a fixed list of approved meds.
Space companies build their own drug protocols, drawing on NASA’s decades of experience. Aerospace medicine specialists review these policies for drug interactions with microgravity.
The Aerospace Medical Association’s Commercial Spaceflight Working Group gives clinical advice for different types of missions. Suborbital flights need different meds than multi-day missions, since the stresses are so different.
International missions get even more complicated if you’re launching from another country or have an international crew. Companies have to deal with multiple national drug approval processes.
Export control rules can also affect which meds leave the US on commercial spacecraft. The State Department’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations sometimes apply, especially for missions with sensitive tech.
Microgravity changes how drugs get absorbed, distributed, and metabolized—sometimes a lot. Weightlessness shifts fluids in the body, which affects how meds move through the system and often means dosages need tweaking.
Cardiovascular meds are tricky because blood pressure behaves differently in space. Flight surgeons often adjust these dosages based on how each crew member reacts to weightlessness.
Pain meds work differently too. Astronauts sometimes feel pain in new ways in microgravity, so standard dosing for common painkillers might not cut it.
Sleep meds need close monitoring. The constant sunrise-sunset cycles in low Earth orbit throw off circadian rhythms, so sleep aids often get reduced dosages to avoid over-sedation.
Anti-nausea meds actually work better in microgravity, so doctors lower the dose to avoid making people too drowsy.
Uncontrolled cardiovascular disease tops the list of disqualifying conditions for commercial space tourism. The G-forces during launch and reentry are just too much for unstable heart conditions.
Pregnancy is an automatic disqualifier because of radiation risks and the unknowns of microgravity on fetal development. Companies require pregnancy tests as part of pre-flight screening.
Severe osteoporosis is another risk, especially during high-G phases or emergency evacuations. Bone density tests help doctors check for fracture risks.
Active seizure disorders also keep people grounded, since medical help is limited in a spacecraft. Well-controlled epilepsy with long seizure-free periods might get considered, but it’s rare.
Severe claustrophobia or panic disorders can disqualify someone who might panic in tight quarters. Mental health screening helps spot candidates who could pose a risk to themselves or others during flight.
Commercial spacecraft usually pack limited medical kits. These kits have emergency medications that someone picked out for the most likely in-flight medical issues. You’ll find cardiac drugs, anti-allergic meds, and a few advanced life support pharmaceuticals for the worst-case scenarios.
Ground-based flight surgeons jump in with real-time medical advice, using continuous communication links with the crew during orbital missions. Medical teams talk crew members through medication administration if someone needs immediate help.
SpaceX Crew Dragon missions bring automated external defibrillators and emergency pharmaceutical supplies. They’re ready to handle cardiac emergencies or severe allergic reactions. Crew members get some basic medical training so they can give life-saving medications while ground control talks them through it.
Suborbital flights like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin mostly count on getting back to Earth fast if something serious happens, since their missions are short. They carry basic emergency meds, but the main plan is to land quickly for proper medical care.
If a medical emergency needs more intense pharmaceutical intervention, the crew might have to abort the mission.
