- Astronauts captured diagnostic-quality X-rays of their bodies during SpaceX's Fram2 mission
- This marks the first successful acquisition of X-ray images on a commercial spaceflight
- Portable X-ray machines overcame challenges of weight, radiation, and microgravity motion
Astronauts have scripted history by taking diagnostic-quality X-rays of their own bodies. In a study published in the journal Radiology, researchers announced that a commercial spaceflight successfully acquired the X-ray images for the first time. The milestone was achieved during SpaceX's Fram2 mission, a 3.5-day polar orbital flight launched in 2025.
"It's been a dream for aerospace medicine to have more than one imaging modality for diagnosing illnesses and injuries in space," Sheyna Gifford, MD, lead researcher and an assistant professor of aerospace medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said in the statement. "X-rays are fast, easy and diagnostically valuable."
For over four decades, ultrasound has been the only reliable medical imaging technology available to astronauts. While highly useful, ultrasound has strict limitations, including being highly operator-dependent, requiring extensive training to read and perform correctly, and reliance on a sound-wave transmitting medium, which means it cannot be used in a vacuum.
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"Traditional X-ray machines are very large, produce a lot of radiation, and have a tendency to produce a blurred image if there's movement," Dr Gifford added.
"Because everything in space is constantly moving, the conceit has been that obtaining a diagnostic image in orbit was too technically challenging."
Until now, traditional X-ray machines were deemed far too heavy, bulky, and radiation-heavy for spacecraft. Also, constant microgravity movement threatened to blur the images.
"Portable X-ray machines are in use everywhere - at the Kentucky Derby, on the sidelines of the Super Bowl and around the globe in low-resource areas - because they can run on solar power and can be operated by individuals with no medical expertise," she said.
"We believed an off-the-shelf portable system would stand a very good chance of surviving prelaunch testing and be operational in space by crew members with minimal training."
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In the statement, they revealed that inflight images acquired without ground support included X-rays of a phantom object used to calibrate the system, and a smartwatch, hand, forearm, abdomen, pelvis and chest.
Following their return, three independent radiologists evaluated the in-flight images against identical scans taken before and after the mission.
They found that all in-flight X-rays achieved clinical diagnostic quality. While positioning central body areas was slightly more difficult without gravity to anchor the patient, the image resolution and contrast remained of good quality.
"By acquiring the first human and equipment X-rays in space, our study demonstrates the feasibility of in-orbit radiography and expanded diagnostic capabilities for crew health and hardware evaluation," Dr Gifford said.
"Acquiring diagnostically useful X-rays in space is something that anyone can do. Three very talented nonmedical people with four hours of training in one of the harshest environments did it right and did it well."
