This story was updated at 4:56 a.m. EDT.
He may not
be zooming through space at warp speed on the Starship Enterprise, but astronaut
Michael Barratt is the closest thing to a real-life Dr. McCoy aboard the
International Space Station.
The
doctor-turned-astronaut is spending more than half a year living 220 miles (354
km) above Earth as the space station's chief medical officer. Barratt said the
station's small medical suite is adequate, but is likely far less glitzy than the
one used by Dr. Leonard McCoy, the chief medical officer of the fictional starship
U.S.S. Enterprise in the "Star
Trek" television series and films, the latest of which
opens in theaters on May 8.
"It's not
quite Dr. McCoy's sick bay, but it pretty much has what we would need to
respond to the most common and most likely things here," Barratt said in a
recent televised interview. "We haven't really had anything major on station,
so I think we're pretty ready."
The real
space doctor
Barratt
should be ready. He literally helped write the textbook on spaceflight medicine
- "Principles of Clinical Medicine for Space Flight" - and is the associate
editor for space medicine for the journal Aviation, Space and Environmental
Medicine.
A veteran mountaineer and diver, Barratt spent nine years as a ground-based NASA
medical officer and flight surgeon before deciding he wanted to experience the
effects of spaceflight for himself. Space medicine, after all, includes the
effects of high altitude and pressure on the human body, he added.
"I think I
can perhaps do a little bit more good for my field of space medicine by
experiencing it myself," Barratt said.
Aboard the
space station, Barratt may not have McCoy's fancy equipment
from the 23rd century, but he does have the right gear to treat scrapes,
cuts and even broken bones, though the latter has never been needed, he said.
If an emergency comes up that he may not have the tools for, Barratt said he
can always call on a team of doctors in Mission Control.
"The forces that break bones, we don't have them up here. They tend to come
from gravity and collisions," Barratt said. "You'd have to do something very
severe and deliberate to break an arm up here."
Bone health
and density is of vital importance for astronauts in space. Barratt and his two
crewmates - Russian commander Gennady Padalka and Japanese flight engineer
Koichi Wakata - exercise two hours ever day to preserve muscle and bone
strength during the long months of weightlessness. They're also studying
medical countermeasures that could reduce the loss of bone density while in
space.
"We're
testing an osteoporosis medicine that is used on the ground to see if works on
the space station," Wakata said in a recent interview.
Space
doctor showdown
While
Barratt, like "Star Trek's" McCoy, is a dedicated and veteran physician, there
are some key differences between the real-life space medic and his fictional predecessor.
Barratt
joined NASA's astronaut ranks in 2000 after nearly a decade servicing as a
flight surgeon for pilots and astronauts. He was 41 at the time, but had to
wait nine more years before getting a post aboard the International Space
Station. Barratt launched to the space station in late March and celebrated his
50th birthday in orbit last month.
In his
official "Star Trek" biography, Dr. Leonard McCoy won't be born for another 218
years (in 2227), but he will receive his chief medical officer post aboard
Enterprise at age 39 (in 2266). Enterprise captain James Kirk gave McCoy the
nicknames "Bones" and the space doctor developed an ongoing rivalry with Spock,
the ship's half-Vulcan/half-human science officer. Barratt's middle name is
Reed and he serves as both the station's medical officer and NASA science
officer.
Barratt
expects his mission aboard the space station to last about seven months, during
which time he will live without gravity. McCoy served on the Enterprise's
initial five-year mission, but had the luxury of artificial gravity.
McCoy was
also divorced and had one daughter. Barratt is married
and has five children. His wife Michelle and children watched him launch
into space aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in late March.
Barratt
also has a reputation as a great cook, and routinely whipped up meals for his
crewmates as they trained for launch, Wakata told reporters. There is also some
comfort, he added, in having a trained physician in space watching over the
station crew's health.
"Having a
medical doctor on board really makes me feel relaxed," Wakata said.
advertisement
