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As a more permanent human presence in space is established during future missions, crew health issues will require additional attention. Since a physician will not be a part of most crews, the flight surgeons will require more clinical information than can currently be provided to regularly assess crew health status and direct medical treatment. The Telemedicine Instrumentation Pack (TIP) is being designed to enable the Crew Medical Officers (CMO) in space to acquire the necessary medical information for telemedical consultation with the flight surgeons in the Mission Control Center (MCC). To date, two prototypes of the TIP have been developed, with the first being clinically evaluated in a local telemedicine testbed in the Fall of 1994 and the second prototype being recently completed. The current system concept, progress in the development of the system, plans for future development, and the evolution of the system are described.

Health of space explorers is a requisite for success of human exploration missions and, potentially, for return of explorers to Earth. Continuous, long term existence and complex, potentially hazardous tasks in space environments will challenge health of explorers. Immediate return to Earth will not be possible. Health care systems are being designed to address these concerns, starting from the requirement to maintain health of crew members throughout all mission phases, and the assumption that clinical (medical), preventive, and occupational health care will be necessary in space as on Earth. Systems for medical care, health monitoring and countermeasures, and environmental monitoring and countermeasures are being designed. Basic system definition concepts include an individual crew member, a crew surgeon, remote consultation, equipment, and work area or volume within space habitats that is dedicated for health care.

NASA flight surgeons have routinely relied on telemedicine to augment inflight medical care since the Gemini program. The current telemedicine capability aboard the Space Shuttle is limited to two-way voice communication, one-way video, and telemetry of ECG and spacecraft parameters. This capability has been sufficient to manage the routine minor medical problems that have occurred in-flight, but long-duration Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions are likely to be accompanied by more serious medical contingencies. In the event of emergent crew health problems, NASA flight surgeons will require an improved capability to provide a rapid, accurate assessment of an ill or injured crewmember. Onboard systems will supply flight surgeons and medical specialty consultants with real-time voice communication, medical video, and data.