Illustration of NASA astronauts on the lunar South Pole. Credit: NASA
Illustration of NASA astronauts on the lunar South Pole. Credit: NASA

Imagine you’re on the moon, digging up lunar regolith. You’re focused on the task at hand when you suddenly slip and fall, right into your pickaxe. Even in the moon’s weaker gravitational field, accidents are a real possibility. A sharp pain flares up on your right side, and you call for your nearby crewmate. Is the pain due to a contusion, or is it a sign of something more serious?

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Dorit Donoviel, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), a NASA-funded consortium of Baylor College of Medicine, California Institute for Technology and Massachusetts Institute for Technology....