Chinese astronauts take blood samples regularly for health assessment. /China Manned Space

It's rare but possible that astronauts, like us on Earth, fall ill in space too.

The special space environment, like weightlessness, noise and pressure changes, can cause many functional disorders and diseases, including space adaptation syndrome, decompression sickness, sleep disorder and even serious arrhythmia.

Although pre-flight preventive strategies will always be put in place to minimize the incidence of diseases in space and prepare astronauts for common ones, potential health risks cannot be completely ruled out in the complex space environment.

Therefore, without hospitals in space, astronauts have to rely on themselves with the help of the ground crews, especially their flight surgeons.

This is the same case for Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts.

Among the Chinese flight surgeons is Shi Hongzhi, who accompanies taikonauts in their ground training and oversees their in-orbit conditions. She has led the development of a well-established set of in-orbit medical treatment procedures.

In 2016, Shi began to revise the disease spectrum of taikonauts in the space station project. She analyzed hundreds of in-orbit cases with lessons from international cases and experience in the manned space history, integrated with technical data from several domestic missions. Eighty-nine diseases were selected in four categories of weightlessness environment, pressure change, accidental injury and clinic, and included in the disease spectrum.

In 2019, she reviewed and revised the disease spectrum based on the latest data at home and abroad, and formed an upgraded version covering 90 diseases in four categories.

Shi's work laid a solid foundation for medical support in the space station. Led by Shi, a diagnosis and treatment manual was worked out later, consisting of medical plans, drug use guidelines and in-orbit medical treatment procedures.

Taikonauts are trained to learn the 23 in-orbit medical treatment procedures. Once they follow the steps, their conditions will be transferred to the ground medical personnel, who will provide treatment suggestions.

A sound mechanism of in-orbit disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment ensures taikonauts in mission receive timely and effective medical treatment, helping minimize the risk of an emergency need for any of the taikonauts to return to Earth.