“Space travel is inherently risky. Space beyond Earth orbit is an extreme and isolated unique environment. Currently, not enough is known of the risks of prolonged travel in deep space to enable humans to venture there for prolonged periods safely.”
Safe Passage, 2001
“Man is not made for space. But with the help of biologists and medical doctors, he can be prepared and accommodated.”
Wernher von Braun, A Primer of Space Medicine, 1960
“Whatever the explanation for the origin of these excessive short wave radiations (from the sun), their existence constitutes a major problem of manned rocket flight at highest altitudes.”
Heinz Haber, Space Medicine, 1951
“Each time man travels out into space, attention focuses on all people, not just scientists. Space medicine, therefore, bears a great responsibility to history and humanity.”
Oleg Gazenko, Bioastronautics and the Exploration of Space, 1964.
“No animal in its right mind ever intentionally puts itself in danger by going somewhere it doesn’t belong. Human beings, on the other hand, are controlled by brains whose emotional and spiritual imperatives can override the survival instinct. Humans have always had an insatiable drive to explore. The human body was by far the most complicated yet reliable piece of equipment aboard Apollo 11 when it landed on the moon.”
Ken Kemler, Doctor on Everest, 1999.
“I believe that the time has arrived for medical investigation of the problems of manned rocket flight, for it will not be the engineering problems but rather the limits of the human frame that will make the final decision as to whether manned space flight will eventually become a reality.”
Wernher von Braun, Space Medicine, 1951
“It is especially interesting to theorize concerning the aberrations of the orientation function which may occur during the part of extraterrestrial travel which would take place in the gravity-free state.”
Paul Campbell, Space Medicine, 1951
“I believe that someday we will travel beyond the stratosphere. I have no reason to believe this except that I think that we will continue to progress and travel farther and farther from the Earth.”
Maj. Gen. Harry G. Armstrong, Space Medicine, 1951
“Man is an intruder in space. Space is not for man, so man must be fitted for space.”
“You can say that this is just what aerospace medicine is all about – to save the lives of the men who climb to the high reaches above the Earth and beyond this planet.”
Martin Caidin, Aviation and Space Medicine, 1962
“There is little doubt that the difficulties (of long-duration spaceflight) are formidable, the unknowns significant, and the prerequisite research extensive in subject matter and in time needed for completion.”
Human Factors in Long-Duration Spaceflight, 1972
“While the advent of a new field of science is always a notable occasion, this is especially so in the case of space medicine because, among the various fields of military medicine currently being employed to support our military forces, space medicine unquestionably ranks number one in strategic importance. At the same time it occupies an eminent position in the general field of science in regard to its current and potential for future contributions to an understanding of nature’s most closely guarded secrets.”
Gen. Harry Armstrong, 1959
