Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.

Sarah Jane Pell dives with a spacesuit, in 2016 in Marseille, France, simulating lunar conditions. | Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images One day, Mars might become a home to humans. But first, there’s the cinematic, sci-fi challenge of making the Red Planet suitable for life. There’s a problem, though: The typical person can’t get to space safely. That throws a wrench into the whole “let’s move to Mars” plan in the face of extreme climate change and other existential risks on Earth. Today, the path to becoming an astronaut is “littered with the hopes and dreams of medically disqualified can