Aerospace Medicine Physicians

Aerospace medicine physicians have no typical day or week because they have a wide range of job duties based on their employer. An AMP employed by NASA might spend their morning at their office treating astronauts for basic illnesses and conditions or giving annual examinations (flight physicals). In the afternoon, an AMP might participate in emergency response exercises or monitor astronauts as they maneuver in full spacesuits in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL). This 40-foot-deep, 6.2-million-gallon pool is used to train astronauts for spacewalks. (The NBL is located at the Sonny Carter Training Facility near the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.) On other days, they may interview astronauts who experienced a medical condition during flight, give safety briefings, or research to help better treat exposure to chemical agents.

This career is demanding, and AMPs may work over 50 hours weekly. If a physician is assigned to a combat unit during wartime, their workday may last 12 or more hours.

This job can be stressful because many pilots, astronauts, and others in the field of aerospace have Type-A personalities and may not want to accept advice or a diagnosis that keeps them from flying for a short time or even forever (because of a serious medical condition). On the other hand, many AMPs love this career because it is on the cutting edge of medicine and aerospace exploration. It is also a good feeling to be the one who returns a pilot or astronaut to full unrestricted flight duty or makes a scientific discovery that improves the health and safety of aviation professionals.

Some positions—especially military jobs—require significant travel and time away from one’s family.

This work can be extremely dangerous for AMPs, pilots, and/or flight surgeons. Military flight surgeons must observe in-flight stressors and crew coordination as part of their duties, and they may provide medical care to patients mid-air in combat situations. Some flight surgeons also trained as astronauts. U.S. Navy flight surgeons Captains David M. Brown and Laurel S. Clark were killed when Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere on February 1, 2003.