These Look Like Ordinary X-Rays. They're Not
Astronauts on the SpaceX Fram2 mission successfully performed the first medical X-rays in orbital flight using a portable machine. This achievement demonstrates that advanced diagnostic imaging is feasible in microgravity, which is crucial for long-term space exploration.
Why it matters
This medical milestone improves the safety and diagnostic capabilities for future long-duration space missions, such as travel to the Moon or Mars.
SpaceX’s Fram2 mission , launched in late March 2025, sent four amateur astronauts where no human had gone before. The flight will go down in history as the first to send a crew to polar orbit, but it will also be remembered for a major achievement in aerospace medicine.
During their mission, the Fram2 astronauts took the first medical X-rays during an orbital flight. Without any guidance from ground control, they produced scans of a hand, forearm, abdomen, pelvis, and chest using a small, portable X-ray machine. The inflight images were immediately transmitted to an onboard computer to be reviewed by the crew, demonstrating that in-orbit radiography is feasible. The researchers unveiled them today in a study published in the journal Radiology.
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