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  2. A space cadet
  3. A space cadet
Student Careers

A space cadet

BMJ 2004; 329 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0412462 (Published 01 December 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:0412462
  1. Julie Sladden, psychiatrist and freelance medical journalist1
  1. 1Leicester

Alyson Calder has spent the past 12 years pursuing her interest in space and space medicine. This interest has taken her to Russia, China, and the United States where she has participated in space medicine training, research, and education. She also set up a research project in countermeasures to postspaceflight orthostatic intolerance during a space medicine rotation at Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

Alyson graduated from Aberdeen University in 2002 and is currently working as a senior house officer in cardiology at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Scotland. She also teaches undergraduates and school pupils about space and space medicine and organised the first UK Space Medicine Day, held recently in Leicester.

How did you get interested in space medicine?

I suppose I was a bit of a space geek when I was young. Seeing Helen Sharman (the first British woman astronaut) fly on a mission to the MIR space station really captured my imagination. So, when I was 13, I got in contact with the UK space school and found out they were running a trip to Moscow. At first they said I was too young to …

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