Zum Gegenstand flugmedizinischer Betrachtungen wurden Beschleunigungen im 1. Weltkrieg.
Für die Untersuchung der damit verbundenen Fragestellungen hat die Flugmedizin Humanzentrifugen
benutzt, die im Zuge des technischen Fortschritts schrittweise an das Leistungsvermögen
der Luftfahrzeuge der jeweiligen Epoche herangeführt wurden. In der Forschung standen
hier zunehmend Fragestellungen der Entwicklung und Evaluation von Flugausrüstungen,
Fliegersonderbekleidung und Schutzausrüstungen im Vordergrund.
In der Raumfahrtmedizin dagegen galt es zunächst, die Astronauten auf die erhöhten
Schwerkraftbedingungen beim Start zu Weltraummissionen vorzubereiten. Mehr und mehr
aber wurden die Auswirkungen verringerter Schwerkraftbedingungen auf den menschlichen
Organismus untersucht, um nach Möglichkeiten zu suchen, die Dekonditionierung, die
mit einer verlängerten Schwerelosigkeit verbunden ist, zu reduzieren oder zu eliminieren.
Die Frage der Entwicklung sogenannter Countermeasures ist hier insbesondere für die
geplanten Langzeitflüge zum Mars hoch aktuell.
Gravity is present everywhere on the planet Earth. During the course of evolution,
the various life forms have become almost perfectly adapted to the force of gravity.
Human beings are the only species that have managed to leave the confines of their
own planet. As a result, they were forced to deal with the effects that changing gravity
conditions have on living organisms.
The complex process of acquiring knowledge in this area was closely linked to technological
advances in the areas of land and air transport. However, there was considerable knowledge
about the effects of acceleration on the human body even before humans began to extend
their capabilities with the help of technology. This knowledge dates back to the time
when medical practitioners used acceleration as a therapy for sleep disorders, cardiovascular
diseases and even mental illness. Physicians in particular therefore knew about the
effects of acceleration on the heart rate, blood volume distribution and breathing
long before they became a problem and a challenge in the area of aviation medicine
and later also space medicine.
Accelerations became an obvious issue in aviation medicine during World War I. To
investigate reactions caused by accelerations aviation medicine started to use human
centrifuges which were gradually improved to match the performance of aircraft of
the respective era as technology advanced. Researchers increasingly began to focus
on the development and evaluation of flight equipment, specialised flight garments
and other protective gear.
The initial challenge for space medicine was to prepare astronauts for the increased
gravitational forces that occur during the launching phase of space missions. However,
the focus subsequently shifted to the effects of low gravity conditions on the human
body. The objective was to find ways to reduce or eliminate the deconditioning effect
and other undesirable effects that extended periods of zero gravity have on various
organ systems. The development of countermeasures in this respect is an area of research
that remains highly relevant in view of the current plans to launch a long-distance
flight to Mars.
Key words artificial gravity - aerospace medicine - human centrifuges - countermeasures
