NASA, NSBRI Select 12 Proposals to Support Crew Health on Missions

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Human Research Program and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, or NSBRI, of Houston will fund a dozen proposals to help investigate questions about astronaut health and performance on future space exploration missions. The selected proposals, representing 11 institutions in eight states, will receive a total of almost $16 million during a three to four-year period.

The Human Research Program provides knowledge and technologies to improve human health and performance during space exploration. The program also develops possible countermeasures for problems experienced during space travel.

Goals include the successful completion of exploration missions and preservation of astronauts' health throughout their lives. The program quantifies crew health and performance risks during spaceflight and develops strategies that mission planners and system developers can use to monitor and mitigate health and performance risks.

The 12 projects were selected from 54 proposals NASA received in response to a research announcement titled "Research and Technology Development to Support Crew Health and Performance in Space Exploration Missions."

The proposals were reviewed by non-NASA technical experts and selected by NASA and NSBRI. Five of the projects will join the Human Research Program's team of principal investigators, while seven will join NSBRI's team-based research program.



NSBRI is a NASA-funded consortium of institutions studying health risks related to long-duration spaceflight. The institute's science, technology and education projects take place at more than 60 institutions across the United States.

A complete list of the selected principal investigators, organizations and proposals is available on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/acd/hrp_nsbri_awards_2009.html

For information about NASA's Human Research Program, visit:

http://humanresearch.jsc.nasa.gov

For information about NSBRI's science, technology and education programs, visit:

http://www.nsbri.org