Astronauts with diabetes may soon travel to space

Astronauts with diabetes may soon be able to undertake space missions safely, a study conducted during Shubhanshu Shukla’s travel to the International Space Station has found.

The Suite Ride experiment, conducted by UAE-based healthcare firm Burjeel Holdings during the Axiom-4 mission, found that everyday diabetes tools used by millions on Earth can be used comprehensively to provide end-to-end diabetes monitoring from space to ground and back to space.

“This historic advancement opens the door to future



astronauts with diabetes and provides new solutions in remote healthcare,” a statement from Burjeel Holdings said.

The results of the study were announced at the Burjeel Institute for Global Health, New York, in the presence of Shamsheer Vayalil, founder of Burjeel Holdings and Tejpaul Bhatia, CEO, Axiom Space.

As per the research results, continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), a wearable medical device tracking blood sugar levels in real time, and insulin pens can operate reliably in the extreme conditions of space.