Aerospace Medicine Physicians

Since the first human took flight in a hot air balloon in the late 1700s, physicians and scientists have studied the effects of flight on human physical and mental health. However, it was only when the Wright Brothers made the first successful flight of a powered, heavier-than-air flying machine on December 17, 1903, that the aviation age began, and significant research was conducted in aerospace medicine. Noteworthy moments in early aerospace medicine history include:

• The establishment of the Medical Research Laboratory and a school for flight surgeons by the U.S. Army Air Service (1918).
• The first use of the term “flight surgeon” by the Medical Research Laboratory (1918).
• The first research was on hypobaric states, hypoxia, and the effects of centrifugal force on pilots at the Air Corps Physiologic Research Laboratory (1925).
• The founding of the Aerospace Medical Association (1929).

The regular use of aircraft in World War II, the beginnings of the competition between the United States and the USSR to launch a human into space in the 1950s, the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958, and the ensuing NASA human spaceflight programs (starting with Project Mercury in 1961) prompted extensive research on the physical and psychological effects of travel in air and space. This research continues in earnest due to the expansion of space exploration by commercial companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, continuing explorations by NASA, and growing research on hypersonic flight by the military and private companies.