**7. Conclusion**

Recent technological advances and scientific discoveries will lead mankind to realise its aspirations as a spacefaring species. If we are to support an enduring human exploration of space, we would have to rapidly update our understanding of human physiology, as well as find better ways to manage medical and surgical

events in space. Persons other than professional astronauts are unprepared for the rigours of space travel and are prone to medical complications and emergencies. In this regard, it is of great importance that astronauts manage medical and surgical events in space.

With increasing flight durations, as a result of advances made in spaceflight enabling technologies that would afford deeper exploration into space, the prospect of a medical emergency entailing airway management is increased. Medical evacuation is not an option in such cases and therefore becomes imperative that immediate care is provided, while on board. Such situations call for a crew equipped with emergency care skills and training. Airway management is an important skill that is required to manage a great many medical emergencies.

This chapter briefly overviews the physiology of the airway, anaesthesia delivery and airway management, on Earth, to compare with and highlight the challenges to human physiology in space given the unique nature of the environment, so as to understand the specific challenges to anaesthesia delivery and airway management, in space.

The enabling technology for space travel, powered by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms, is advancing exponentially. Medical science typically tends to follow a more measured trajectory and tends to trail relative to the strides made by technology. We will also likely travel to Mars in the near future and this particular mission will come under more scrutiny than any other previous space missions. The crew will be required to travel farther and longer than any other human being in the history of our world. Techniques for airway management will need to undergo and be better defined in the coming years. As it stands, an expanding body of research that is trying to provide a better understanding of many aspects of human health in space is already underway. It is imperative for medical science to rapidly expand its body of knowledge when it comes to space travel, if it is to support human quest for space exploration.
