AFCEA PANEL
The Human Factor in Space Mission Design: From Space Medicine to Astronaut Training on Earth
Space exploration is not only a technological challenge, but above all a human-centered one, in which people remain at the core of the design, operation, and safety of space systems. Spacecraft design requires an integrated approach, where engineering, ergonomics, and human physiology converge to ensure habitability, safety, and operational efficiency for crews during long-duration missions.
Within this framework, space medicine plays a decisive role, addressing the effects of microgravity, cosmic radiation, and prolonged isolation on the human body, and developing medical, nutritional, and psychological countermeasures to preserve astronaut health and performance.
At the same time, ground-based training represents the phase in which astronauts' technical, physical, and behavioral skills are shaped through advanced simulators, analog environments (such as neutral buoyancy pools, hypobaric chambers, and terrestrial analog bases), and psychological preparation protocols designed to address extreme conditions of isolation and operational stress.
This Panel offers a multidisciplinary overview of the role of human beings — not merely as users, but as a central element — in the design, management, and success of present and future space missions, highlighting how human skills, combined with technological innovation, remain the enabling factor for the expansion of human activity in space.
ORGANIZED BY
Giovanni Savoldelli
Gen. Pil. Giovanni Savoldelli Pedrocchi
President AFCEA Chapter Naples
PANELLISTS
Lieutenant General (Ret.) Claudio Gabellini - Italian Air Force
The space economy and the human skills
Ing. Pasquale Dell'Aversana and Ing. Arturo Moccia - Lead Tech
Space Habitat Medical Demonstrator: developing a structured pathway for the design, selection, integration, testing and accreditation of medical modules for astronauts health care in isolated austere and remote environment
Col. Paola Verde - Comando Logistico, Italian Air Force
Moon: defying human physiology
Dr Alessandro Stronati - UniversitĂ Sacro Cuore Roma- Istituto per la medicina
d'emergenza in montagna (EURAC) Bolzano
Hibernation: from torpor to space travel
