Pushing the boundaries of space exploration for all

Could the best candidate for a space mission be someone whose physiology responds differently to microgravity? Dr Irene Di Giulio is exploring this, investigating whether physical disabilities could be advantageous in spaceflight. We interviewed Irene to learn more about her career and aerospace research.

“Astronauts move around the International Space Station (ISS) by pulling along handrails rather than walking,” explains Irene. “As they must rely more on their arms than their legs to move around, it raises an interesting question: how necessary are the lower limbs for functioning on the ISS?”

In 2022, the European Space Agency selected John McFall, a British Paralympian sprinter, for a pioneering study on astronauts with physical disabilities. John lost his right leg at the age of 19 following a motorcycle accident. In 2024, he was medically cleared for long-duration missions to the ISS. He will be the first amputee astronaut.

“Accessibility is being considered from the outset,” says Irene, who is on the team preparing for John’s first mission. She is working on inclusive human space exploration with her research team, and colleagues at the European Space Agency and UK Space Agency. So, we were curious about Irene’s first steps to working on physiology and space exploration. “Honestly, it started by chance,” exclaims Irene.

One small step from human biomechanics to aerospace

Irene has always been interested in understanding how the human brain controls movement. She studied biomedical engineering to help people with mobility impairments walk again. She then became fascinated with the physiological mechanisms involved in standing. “As my PhD supervisor used to say, I transitioned from being an engineer to becoming a scientist,” recounts Irene.

“If you think about it, human standing and walking are remarkable achievements. Humans are bipedal and balance a relatively high centre of mass over a small base of support,” explains Irene. “The adaptations that we see every day, for example when maintaining balance while standing on a moving train, have always captured my curiosity,” muses Irene.

During her first post-doc at Manchester Metropolitan University, she applied her biomechanics techniques to study astronauts before and after spaceflight. “The experience introduced me to the physiological challenges that spaceflight poses for the human body.”

She then joined King’s College London (KCL), which had a vibrant aerospace research community. It was in this environment that Irene began to explore the intersection between disability and spaceflight. “I see accessibility in spaceflight as a scientific question about human adaptation and performance,” states Irene.

“Astronaut selection has simply focused on identifying the ‘best person for the job’. However, research has shown that humans are not made for space,” says Irene. She adds, “Most of our evidence from studying able-bodied astronauts suggests that the human body struggles in the space environment”.

So far, data highlights that negative physiological changes occur during spaceflight. This includes musculoskeletal deconditioning that occurs predominantly in the lower limbs. Microgravity also shifts the fluid from the legs upwards to the thorax and head.

This made Irene wonder, “If the lower limbs are absent, could some of the physiological challenges of spaceflight occur differently or even be reduced?” Could individuals with physical impairments be better suited to spaceflight?” She brought together an interdisciplinary and international team to study the physiological adaptations to spaceflight.

Removing barriers to spaceflight

“Our team is developing an integrated, whole-body physiological research programme to examine how spaceflight affects multiple systems in the body. We will collect data before, during and after a space mission, allowing us to track changes across the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neural, thermoregulatory, and immune systems, and understand how these responses interact,” says Irene.

Alongside this work, they have conducted pilot studies using ground-based spaceflight analogues. “We examined physiological adaptations in individuals with lower-limb amputation and compared them with age- and gender-matched control participants. This early work is helping us refine our protocols and formulate evidence-based hypotheses,” reports Irene.  

She and her team will soon be carrying out the data analysis for their experimental work on astronauts with amputation. They have also been studying broader aspects and are hoping to investigate a wide range of physical and sensory impairments.

“By understanding how different human bodies adapt to the space environment, we can inform design decisions and demonstrate that accessibility is not only feasible but may also offer advantages,” says Irene.

In 2023, Irene launched the KCL Space4All community, which includes members living with spinal cord injury. “They often point out that gravity is a major factor contributing to disability on Earth.”  Irene adds, “In a microgravity environment, many of the barriers imposed by gravity are removed, potentially allowing people to focus more on their abilities”.

New technologies and systems are currently being developed for future missions to the Moon and Mars. “This very exciting phase of space exploration creates a valuable opportunity to consider accessibility from the outset,” says Irene, stating “New spacesuits and habitat designs are being developed, and accessibility considerations could be incorporated now rather than retrofitted later”.

Irene believes that inclusive designs could benefit everyone involved and that robust scientific data are essential to support accessible space missions. “By studying how different bodies adapt to spaceflight, we aim to support the first of many accessible missions and lay the foundation for inclusive human space exploration.”