Everything in medicine is true until it isn’t, and this certainly applies to the expeditionary setting.
To really push boundaries in extreme environments, the support medic must do ample homework in preparation, be a keen observer and diligent documenter, and then share the knowledge.
Human space flight is particularly vulnerable to basing understanding on crew anecdotes, small sample size studies, generational knowledge gaps, and ‘common sense’ without supporting data.
As a veteran flight surgeon, space flyer, author, editor, space nerd, and space medicine enthusiast, I will share some of the more blatant and comical examples of ‘space urban legend’.
We will have a bit of fun and hopefully help calibrate the important role of the extreme medic in building a new and critical knowledge base