Constructing an atlas of human biology in space: Q&A with Christopher Mason

After several delays, the highly anticipated first commercial spacewalk is set to launch later this summer as part of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, propelling four civilian astronauts more than 430 miles above Earth. Among those eagerly awaiting the mission’s findings is Christopher Mason, a geneticist and computational biologist who studies the effects of space on the human body. He previously helped lead the NASA Twins Study that compared physiological, molecular, and cognitive measures for astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly.

Last month, Mason and researchers from more than 100 institutions released the Space Omics and Medical Atlas, the largest collection yet of health data gathered from astronauts and other civilians in space. The package, which consists of 44 published papers, includes data from the Inspiration4 mission, which was the first all-civilian space orbit, the Twins Study, and others. Data on human space biology from the Polaris Dawn mission, as well as from future lunar missions, are slated to be added to the repository.

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