#IMPACT25 Panel: Safety in human space flight – the astronaut’s perspective
We are entering a new era of human space flight. As humanity prepares to return to the Moon and even set foot on Mars, many commercial endeavors in space are also on the rise. One central concept that makes all of this possible is safety.
But what is safety in a space context? What does it take to feel safe in space? And what are the challenges that have to be overcome to allow astronauts to travel to and work in space safely?
In our #IMPACT25 panel, Dr. Emma Gatti, Editor in Chief of SpaceWatch Global, welcomes Dr. Norah Patten (aeronautical engineer and bioastronautics researcher) Carmen Possnig (MD and ESA reserve astronaut), and Barbara Imhof (space architect, professor & CEO LIQUIFER) to explore the human perspective on safety in space, from medicine to psychology, training, and spacecraft (or habitat) design.
In this lively and insightful discussion, you will learn:
- What microgravity in space does to the human body
- How astronauts wash and sleep while floating in a space station
- How and where astronauts train for space missions
- What the restrictions are when building a space station
Watch now!
About the panelists
Dr. Emma Gatti (moderator) is a Cambridge graduate and former NASA scientist with ten years of experience in the field of planetary science and geology. She was working as a post-doctoral scholar at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology before returning to Milan in 2018 to start working as space analyst in the field of Space Economy and Space Policy. Since 2022 she is the Editor in Chief and radio host of SpaceWatch.Global. She has penned several articles focused on space sustainability and space communication issues.
Dr. Norah Patten is an aeronautical engineer, a global faculty member at the International Space University (ISU), a citizen astronaut candidate with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), and currently works as the Business Development Manager at Réaltra Space Systems Engineering in Dublin. Norah has participated in several citizen science campaigns including multiple microgravity research flights, spacesuit testing and evaluation, high-g flights, and spacecraft egress. Norah initiated and managed ‘The Only Way is Up’ project which launched Ireland's first student experiment to the International Space Station in 2014. Norah participated in the International Space University Space Studies Program in 2010, holds a PhD from the University of Limerick, participated in the Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers Program, and has industrial experience from The Boeing Company and Bell Labs Alcatel Lucent.
Carmen Possnig is a medical doctor and a PhD candidate in space physiology at the University of Innsbruck. Before starting her PhD, she spent a year as the European Space Agency Research Medical Doctor at Concordia Station in Antarctica, investigating how humans adapt to extreme environments. Her current research focuses on how the human cardiovascular system and eyesight change in microgravity, with the aim of keeping astronauts healthy and fit on future spaceflights to the Moon and Mars. Since 2022, she is a member of the European Space Agency's astronaut reserve.
Barbara Imhof is an internationally recognized space architect, design researcher and educator. She is a co-founder and co-managing director of LIQUIFER Vienna-Bremen and holds a professorship for Integrative Design with a focus on Extremes at the University of Innsbruck. She specializes in architecture for resource-constrained environments. Her diverse work spans from minimal and transformable space design to integrating biological systems into architecture. She is currently working on the I-HAB Mock-Up, improving habitability through a novel set of commercial crew systems and recycling strategies for lunar bases.
