News Archive

The consensus study report Space Radiation and Astronaut Health: Managing and Communicating Cancer Risks has been released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The press release summary for the report notes that longer-duration mission crews will likely face unique health-related risks. Cancer risk is one of those, which will likely increase with longer flights. The summary goes on to say, "Assessing, managing, and communicating radiation-induced cancer risks associated with spaceflight are challenging because of incomplete knowledge of the radiation environment in space, limited data on radiation-induced cellular damage mechanisms, lack of direct observations from epidemiological studies, and the complexities of understanding radiation risk." Both hard-copy ($50) and PDF versions (free) of the report are available on the National Academies website.