Orthopedic surgeon is ready to embark on mission to the space station

Robert L. Satcher Jr, MD, PhD will operate and repair the 80-foot long robotic arms on the station.

Surgeons have an intimate view into the workings of the human body. As the first orthopedic surgeon in space, Robert L. Satcher Jr., MD, PhD, will also be privy to a view of the world that few have experienced.

“Everybody says that the views of the earth, the stars and the moon escape description,” Satcher, a faculty member at Northwestern Medical School, told Orthopedics Today. “Most people say that it changes their perspective of life and our planet. I am looking forward to that.”

12-day mission

In November, Satcher and a crew of five other astronauts will travel to the International Space Station and embark on a 12-day mission bringing oxygen and a palate of spare parts to the station and retrieving an astronaut currently stationed there.

“We will also be doing maintenance work on two of the robotic arms, which are the big cranes used for construction activity on the space station,” Satcher said.

In addition to being the crew’s medical officer, Satcher will serve as a proxy scientist for experiments examining the relationship between the brain’s signals to muscles and muscle response in space, cell biology and virology experiments, study immune system changes in short- and long-duration crewmembers, and height changes in a weightless environment.

“We will be doing anthropometric measurements on shuttle crewmembers to see where most of the height changes are occurring in the spine,” Satcher said. “It is straight forward but, nonetheless, should provide some interesting information.”

Astronaut Robert L. Satcher Jr., MD, PhD, an STS-129 mission specialist, uses virtual reality hardware in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to practice some of the duties he will be performing during his mission to the International Space Station.

Satcher suits up in a training version of his Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit to prepare for a spacewalk training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Images: NASA

United Space Alliance suit technician Raymond Cuevas (left) assists Satcher with a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit in preparation for a water survival training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

United Space Alliance suit technician Russ Baker (left) aids Satcher as he participates in a water survival training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

Journey to space

Although Satcher grew up during NASA’s first iteration of the Apollo program, becoming an astronaut initially seemed out of reach.

“There were no astronauts that looked like me, so it did not seem to be a realistic goal,” he said. “As I got older and they began selecting African American astronauts … it became clear that it was something that I could be considered for.”

He learned about the application process after meeting some physician astronauts during his residency and was later selected for the astronaut class of 2004.

To become an astronaut, Satcher underwent a year and a half of basic training which included classes about the space station onboard systems, scuba diving tutorials and land and water survival training. He then started training as a mission specialist and learned how to perform spacewalks at the neutral buoyancy lab at the Johnson Space Center. The lab consists of a large pool with full-sized, submerged models of the space station and shuttle. “It is probably the most rigorous training program that we do,” Satcher said.

He also learned how to co-pilot an aircraft by flying T-38 jet-training planes.

“It gives you an experience functioning in a dynamic situation [where there] is a fast moving ship,” Satcher said. “You have to navigate and operate the aircraft, communicate with the ground and your crewmate, while operating everything safely as you travel from your starting point to the finish.”

Similarities to surgery

In addition, Satcher received training on how to operate three of the space shuttle and space stations’ four robotic arms.

“You have a couple of hand controllers and you are looking at video monitors to show you what you need to see to accomplish a task,” he said. “That is a lot like arthroscopic surgery. Obliviously, it is a much bigger tool than instruments used in surgery and you are moving around much larger objects, nonetheless, it requires the manual dexterity and coordination similar to doing arthroscopic surgery.”

Satcher drew parallels between using power tools and working in enclosed environments in space to performing surgery in the operating room. He also said that his training as a surgeon could help during the mission.

“Multitasking, maintaining your awareness of the big picture and methodically working through a sequence of events — that carries over from surgery to doing space walks,” he said.

In addition to the spectacular views of the earth, Satcher is looking forward to the in-flight camaraderie.

“I never thought that it would be anything that I might actually be able to do,” he said. “I feel very fortunate.”

For more information:

Robert L. Satcher, Jr, MD, PhD, can be reached at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611; 312-908-7937; e-mail: r-satcher@northwestern.edu.