Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Under the dome. Inspiration4 crew’s space selfie. Left to right top, Jared Isaacman, Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor with hair-hovering Hayley Arceneaux.
Image credit: Inspiration4 Photos

The flight of the Inspiration4 crew back in 2021 marked a milestone as the first privately chartered spaceflight by civilian astronauts.

Inspiration4 crew members flew aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Resilience that was lofted on September 16, 2021 and landed on September 18, 2021.

That four-person crew collected a wealth of biological measurements yielding a comprehensive Space Omics and Medical Atlas, or SOMA for short.

Artwork depicts the specially outfitted SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with its viewing dome.
Image credit: SpaceX

Multiple missions

As explained on the SOMA website, “we are performing comprehensive and integrative multiomics analysis of astronauts, including the crew from the Inspiration4, Polaris Dawn, and Axiom missions.”

This sampling will allow for monitoring the impacts of spaceflight and provide a health service to the crew post-mission.

Image credit: Nature

“Furthermore, applying the same core protocols in the sample collection, processing, and analysis across multiple missions will allow us to validate and compare our findings with other investigators and space agencies/companies around the world,” the SOMA website adds.

Synchronized release

NASA has established the Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) in which that Inspiration4 crew data is also hosted. In concert with that data availability, in a “synchronized release,” Nature Press has released 44 publications that document the molecular, cellular, physiological, and phenotypic changes observed during spaceflight.  

Observes Nature “this package shows how the modern tools of molecular biology and precision medicine can help guide humanity into more challenging missions, which will be critical for a permanent presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”

Image credit: Nature

Groundbreaking collection

The SOMA initiative is spearheaded by Chris Mason from Weill Cornell Medicine. The public can now engage in the analysis of this groundbreaking collection of civilian commercial astronaut data.

These scientific manuscripts have been jointly released to tackle inquiries regarding spaceflight effects on the whole body, skin, skeletal muscle, and endocrine system.

This work also begins to map differences in how female and male individuals respond to spaceflight and links specific countermeasures to each astronaut.

Image credit: Nature

Ethical considerations

This unprecedented step in making available the Inspiration4 data includes ethical considerations for the age of non-governmental space exploration. Other topic areas include:

Aging and putative frailty biomarkers are altered by spaceflight; spaceflight induces changes in gene expression profiles linked to insulin and estrogen; explainable machine learning identifies multi-omics signatures of muscle response to spaceflight in mice; as well as biomonitoring and precision health in deep space supported by artificial intelligence.”

Now, for the first time, the NASA OSDR hosts processed commercial astronaut data that are publicly available.

Profound insights

According to the OSDR website, “in order to protect the privacy of the astronauts, processed data are publicly available, while private raw data, including genetic sequence data, will require an application process with a board approval to gain access.”

Image credit: NASA OSDR

This comprehensive study includes: whole blood and urine samples, microbial swabs from the crew and the spacecraft cabin, which were collected at different timepoints before, during, and after spaceflight.

“The open access of these datasets in the NASA OSDR provides a unique opportunity for the scientific community, as well as citizen scientists and students, to continue using OSDR resources to further unlock profound insights into the consequences of space travel on the human body,” the website adds.

Resources

To view the Nature portfolio issued in volume 632 issue 8027, August 29, 2024 — “Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) across orbits – New studies on astronauts and space biology bring humanity one step closer to the final frontier” — go to:

https://www.nature.com/immersive/d42859-024-00009-8/index.html

Also go the SOMA data portal website at:

https://soma.weill.cornell.edu/#main

The NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) can be accessed at:

https://osdr.nasa.gov/bio/news/articles/I4-data/I4-data.html