Emergency Medical Considerations in a Space-Suited Patient

• DOI: 10.3357/amhp.4648.2016
• Publication Date: 2016-10-18T03:23:15Z
• Authors: Alejandro Garbino; Derek M. Nusbaum; Daniel M. Buckland; Anil S. Menon; Jonathan B. Clark; Erik L. Antonsen
• Keywords: Space Suit; Life support system; Hum; Officer; International Space Station

The Stratex Project is a high altitude balloon flight that culminated in freefall from 41,422 m (135,890 ft), breaking the record for highest to date. Crew recovery operations required an innovative approach due unique nature of event as well equipment involved. parachutist donned custom space suit similar NASA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), with life support system mounted front and parachute on back. This had metal structure around torso, which, conjunction assembly, created significant barrier extraction medical emergency. For this reason Medical Support Team coordinated pressure assembly engineer team integration, training removal, definition priori contingency leadership site, creation color-coded scenarios, drills mock-up provided insight into limitations immediate access. paper discusses novel processes contrasts preparation type needs prior record-holding jump used different easier Garbino A, Nusbaum DM, Buckland Menon AS, Clark JB, Antonsen EL. Emergency considerations space-suited patient. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016; 87(11):958-962.