Thermoregulation During Spaceflight

Abstract

The purpose of this flight proposal is to investigate human thermoregulatory parameters during exercise in microgravity. The hypothesis to be tested is that microgravity-adopted astronauts will exhibit accentuated increases in their core temperature (excess hyperthermia) during exercise because of altered heat loss responses due to reduced sweating and/or accentuated vasodilation. The specific aims are (1) to compare core and skin temperature responses during moderate exercise before flight and inflight; (2) to determine whether the hypothesized inflight excessive hyperthermia is due to increased heat production, reduced, sweating, impaired peripheral vasodilation, or to some combination of these factors; and (3) to determine whether heat production at an exercise load of 60 percent of the maximal working capacity is similar preflight and inflight. It is expected that the astronauts will exhibit excessive hyperthermia during exposure to microgravity which will be caused by decreased sweating and decreased skin blood flow.