AEROSPACE MEDICINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

Abstract

     What is Aerospace Medicine? Aerospace medicine, also known as aviation and space medicine, is the medical specialty concerned with the study of factors affecting the human body in flight. It was recognised as a specialty by the General Medical Council (GMC) in 20161,2.

    Additionally, aerospace medicine encompasses areas such as medically certifying pilots, aeromedical retrieval, and the design of life support systems for air and spacecraft1,2. It is an exceptionally broad field, with considerable overlaps with anaesthetics, critical care, emergency medicine, and primary care2.

Furthermore, aerospace medicine has links to almost every specialty due to the multisystem effects of flight.

The Contemporary Importance of Aerospace Medicine

    For the first time since the Apollo programme, astronauts are preparing to leave low Earth orbit. The United States’ National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) is currently aiming to launch its Artemis II mission in April of this year, with astronauts being set to return to lunar orbit. This, alongside Artemis III, which plans to land a crew on the Moon in the next few years, will place human spaceflight firmly back in the public spotlight3.

    In January, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) returned to Earth early for medical reasons, marking the first medical evacuation from the ISS4. This event underscored the importance of aerospace medicine, and that the field is essential to sustaining a human presence in space.

    Aerospace medicine sadly remains absent from the curricula of most British medical schools, despite being a GMC-recognised specialty and one of growing importance.

The Society

    The Glasgow University Space Medicine Society was founded by Dr Christina Mackaill in 2016. Dr Mackaill has since contributed extensively to the field, including publishing work on methods for CPR in hypogravity and microgravity5,6. .She is currently collaborating on a paper with Dr J.D. Polk, Chief Medical Officer at NASA. The society later expanded in 2017 to become the Aviation and Space Medicine Society, incorporating aviation medicine due to the significant overlap between the fields, and following the GMC’s recognition of Aviation and Space Medicine as a single specialty.

Our Goals

    Our primary goal for the society this year is to increase awareness of aerospace medicine and to inspire more students to explore the specialty. It remains a relatively niche specialty, so we aim to build a strong base for the years to come. 

    We aim to regularly run events to promote aerospace medicine, including hosting speakers across a wide range of topics, spanning both aviation and space domains. We also hope to build the momentum required to host a conference and are open to collaborating with other student aerospace medicine societies to make this a reality.

Per Aspera Ad Astra

    As the Artemis era of human spaceflight gets underway, aerospace medicine will only grow in significance. From the psychiatric challenges of deep spaceflight to the physiological consequences of microgravity, and from high-G physiology to the lifelong monitoring of astronaut health, aerospace medicine occupies a unique position at the intersection of clinical medicine, extreme operational environments, and human spaceflight.

    We invite students, medical and otherwise, to explore aerospace medicine as it enters a new era of relevance.

Editor’s note: This article was written prior to NASA’s February 2026 press conference regarding Artemis III.

References:

1. General Medical Council. Aviation

and space medicine curriculum

[Internet]. London: General Medical

Council; [cited 2026 Feb 22]. Available

from: https://www.gmc-

uk.org/education/standards-guidance-

and-curricula/curricula/aviation-and-

space-medicine-curriculum

2. Baird A. Space medicine part one:

physiological challenges of spaceflight.

Travelwise: Journal of the British

Global and Travel Health Association.

2025;15. doi:10.21864/jbgtha.2024.18

3. National Aeronautics and Space

Administration. Artemis [Internet].

Washington (DC): NASA; [cited 2026

Feb 23]. Available from:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-

space/artemis

4. National Aeronautics and Space

Administration. NASA’s SpaceX

Crew-11 mission returns, splashes down off

California [Internet]. Washington (DC):

NASA; 2026 Jan 15 [cited 2026 Feb 23].

Available from:

https://www.nasa.gov/news-

release/nasas-spacex-crew-11-mission-

returns-splashes-down-off-california/

5. Mackaill C, Sponchiado G, Leite AK,

Dias P, Da Rosa M, Brown EJ, de

Lima JCM, Rehnberg L, Russomano

T. A new method for the performance of

external chest compressions during

hypogravity simulation. Life Sci Space

Res (Amst). 2018 Aug;18:72-79.

doi:10.1016/j.lssr.2018.06.001

6. Hinkelbein J, Kerkhoff S, Adler C,

Ahlbäck A, Braunecker S, Burgard D,

Cirillo F, De Robertis E, Glaser E,

Haidl TK, Hodkinson P, Iovino IZ,

Jansen S, Johnson KVL, Jünger S,

Komorowski M, Leary M, Mackaill

C, Nagrebetsky A, Neuhaus C,

Rehnberg L, Romano GM,

Russomano T, Schmitz J, Spelten O,

Starck C, Thierry S, Velho R,

Warnecke T. Cardiopulmonary

resuscitation (CPR) during spaceflight: a

guideline for CPR in microgravity from the

German Society of Aerospace

Medicine (DGLRM) and the European

Society of Aerospace Medicine Space

Medicine Group (ESAM-SMG). Scand J

Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2020 Nov

2;28:108. doi:10.1186/s13049-020-

00793-y