Astronaut Strength Conditioning and Rehab (Part 2) with NASA Human Performance

MOPs & MOEs

This episode is a continuation of last week's conversation, so if you missed it we highly encourage you to go back and start there. We have NASA's Astronaut Strength Conditioning and Rehabilitation (ASCR) team joining us, including Corey Twine (Strength and Conditioning Coach), Danielle Anderson (Physical Therapist), Bruce Nieschwitz (Athletic Trainer), and Christ Keeler (Athletic Trainer).

In the previous conversation we focused on pre-flight preparation for astronauts and we transitioned into the in-flight training they do to mitigate the effects of microgravity. This time we wrap up the in-flight conversation and transition into post-flight rehabilitation.

We discuss everything from how to do a dynamic warm up in space to the potential for things like wearables and blood flow restriction training in space. Like lasting time, we learn a lot about the fascinating challenges involved in keeping humans healthy and fit in space.

NASA makes a huge amount of their information publicly available, here are a few for those of you that want to dive deeper into some of the topics we discussed:

NASA has a dedicated page to highlight technology spinoffs that were developed for spaceflight but now benefit those of us here on earth. You can even find Bowflex on there!

The Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program (CLDP) is NASA's program to assist companies with developing commercial access to low earth orbit.

Astronaut flight assignment process⁠

⁠EVA (extravehicular activity/spacewalk) spacesuit⁠

⁠Human adaptation to spaceflight⁠ (if you search “exercise,” you’ll find quite a few references to how exercise is used as a countermeasure in spaceflight)