Human Health in the Lunar Environment

Abstract

The lunar environment contains many hazards to human health, some common to extraterrestrial locations, some unique to the Moon. Exposures of particular concern are hypobaric environments, hypogravity, space radiation, and lunar dust. This chapter provides a brief overview of these exposures, as they represent the gravest threats to human health in the lunar environment (i.e., they may affect mortality rates) and then reviews the published studies of mortality of the original twenty-four lunar astronauts who visited the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The chapter closes with a reexamination of lunar astronaut mortality using updated data, including detailed discussion of the interpretation of the results.