Injury (alpha procedures)

ASTRONAUT ILLNESS/INJURY

General Procedure

In the case of a non-life-threatening injury or illness, keep the affected astronaut(s) comfortable and attempt treatment as applicable. In the case of a life-threatening injury or illness, the mission will be aborted. Mission Control should be notified about all injuries or illnesses.

Injury Procedure

Apply first aid and reduce the astronaut's responsibilities as necessary.

Puncture Wounds

Clean the wound and bandage it once it has stopped bleeding.

Skin Irritation

Locate and remove the cause of the irritation. Rinse the affected area with cool water.

Sprains, Strains and Bruises

Apply ice and elevate the injury if possible. Try to avoid using sprained limbs.

Heat Exhaustion

Heat exhaustion is caused by exercise or work in a hot environment and may be recognized by the following symptoms: slightly elevated body temperature - cool, moist, pale or red skin; headaches; nausea; and dizziness, weakness, or exhaustion. Tell Mission Control immediately. Have the casualty rest in a cool place. Give him or her cooled water and apply cool, wet cloths to their skin. Loosen any tight clothing and remove perspiration-soaked clothes.

Heat Stroke

If heat exhaustion is not treated immediately, it may develop into heat stroke which is much more severe. Heat stroke can be recognized by high body temperatures, often as high as 41° C (106° F); red, hot, dry skin; irritable, bizarre, or combative behaviour; a progressive loss of consciousness; a rapid, weak pulse becoming irregular; and rapid shallow breathing. The treatment is the same as for heat exhaustion. Tell Mission Control immediately if you have not done so.

Serious Illness/Injury

The astronaut is to be placed in the emergency evacuation module. These devices are small and tubular. From inside the airlock, the astronaut enters the evacuation module which will arrive from below the Habitat. It will then fly and dock directly with the AYSE drive, where it will use a simplified form of the SLINCE drive to accelerate towards Earth A coil in Earth orbit will catch the probe, and it will land just outside Mission Control. EMS should be called so that it arrives in time for the probe landing. The last time an emergency evacuation probe was used was the liquid-nitrogen falling on the foot incident. This occurred sometime before 1996.