Dr. Robert Satcher of Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine will become the first orthopedic surgeon to orbit the earth after he blasts off to the International Space Station on Monday. In addition to acting as the mission’s chief medical officer, Satcher will take part in space walks with NASA’s STS-129 crew to help repair two robotic arms on the exterior of the space station. Despite being quarantined at Cape Canaveral, Fla., for his final mission preparations, Satcher took a few minutes to speak with The Daily about his upcoming voyage.Daily: What special insight will you bring to the mission as someone from the medical field?
Satcher: From the point of view of being the chief medical officer for the mission, my concern will be the adjustment and health of the crew, as well as myself, during the transition to a weightless environment. While we’re in orbit, it is my responsibility to monitor the crew’s health and intervene where necessary.
Daily: You’ve decided to use Twitter to keep your followers updated while you’re in space. What will you be tweeting about?
Satcher: Under one name, @Astro_Bones, I’ll be tweeting mostly about the day-to-day events as we’re going through the mission. I’ve already started talking about what we’re doing here for our pre-flight preparations. I’ll be making daily updates and try to give some highlights of what’s going on. The major events for me will be two space walks, which will occur on Flight Day 4 and Flight Day 8, as well as operating robotic arms at the Space Station. Finally, I’ll continue to give tweets after we’re back. The second name I’ll be tweeting under is @ZeroG_MD, and I’ll be tweeting exclusively about medical issues.
Daily: You mentioned you’ll be observing how your crew adapts to a weightless environment. Do you have any first-hand experience of what that’s like?
Satcher: I don’t know, I’ve never been in a weightless environment! So it’s going to be very exciting to see what that’s like. We know that it takes a few days to adjust – it causes fluid shifts in the body and makes people get some motion sickness during the first few days. Over time, you actually lose bone and muscle mass as a result of being in a weightless environment. These changes are well-studied, well-known and well-characterized. From an academic point of view, I know what happens when you go into a weightless environment, but there’s nothing like experiencing it to actually understand these effects.
Daily: You’re the third Northwestern-affiliated physician to make it to the final frontier, following in the footsteps of Feinberg graduates Joseph Kerwin (Feinberg ’57) and Michael Barratt (Feinberg ’85). Have you wanted to meld medicine and space travel since you were a kid?
Satcher: You know, I’ve never thought about doing both. As a kid, I was mainly thinking about being a doctor, and I later became interested in space. Over the years, I met a few physicians who were in the astronaut corps, and that’s when it became apparent to me when I could do both.
Daily: Are you more nervous or excited about your upcoming mission?
Satcher: It’s mostly excitement. My family’s down here today, so we’re all looking forward to the launch on Monday. It’s the culmination of years of training, so basically I think my main feelings at the moment are anticipation and excitement.[email protected]
