Overview
- Nine international specialists writing in Reproductive BioMedicine Online, led by NASA-affiliated Dr. Fathi Karouia, label reproductive health in space a policy blind spot.
- The authors urge coordinated international research, standardized protocols and ethics frameworks, noting no such regulations currently exist.
- Existing human data come mainly from short flights with no clear abnormalities, while animal studies link space radiation to disrupted female cycles, DNA damage and higher cancer risk, with little data on male fertility.
- Future studies should rely on simulated environments and non-human models, and pregnant people will not be enrolled for space research, according to contributor and clinical embryologist Giles Palmer.
- Recommendations include better radiation shielding, medical countermeasures and fertility-preservation strategies as commercial flights expand and longer Moon and Mars missions move closer.