Air Force begins screening astronauts for maiden human space flight

The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), which would be entrusted with the crucial role of screening and selecting the astronauts for the country’s maiden human space flight mission, has already initiated the ground work by developing state-of-the-art laboratories.

The Bangalore-based institute, which was an integral part of the Indo-Soviet manned space flight in the 1980’s, has developed various laboratories that can be used for screening potential astronauts.  The institute also played a role in the medical monitoring team of India’s only cosmonaut, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma.

The department of space and environment physiology has developed three laboratories, comprising the thermal chamber, micro gravity simulation, and lower body negative pressure (LBNP).

At the thermal chamber, temperature can be simulated to very high and low temperatures, which the astronauts could encounter during the mission. The space craft would rotate around the earth about 16 times and the astronauts would be exposed to varying temperatures.

This chamber would simulate various temperatures and get them accustomed. Likewise, at another laboratory, the effects of microgravity can be simulated, which cannot be created normally on Earth.

A high-performance human centrifuge, which can simulate various G-force levels, will also be housed in the institute.