Inspiration4 and the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA), 2024
Multi-omicsImmune & HematologicVestibular & SensorimotorNeurological & CognitiveIn-flightPostflight RecoveryLEO short-durationPublicStudentClinicianResearcher
- On the 3-day Inspiration4 flight, crew showed broad stress, immune and balance changes. Almost all returned to baseline after landing. ◆◆◇◇ Low · F
- SOMA increased public human space-omics data more than tenfold and links data from several missions. ◆◆◆◇ Moderate · E
- Four civilians on a 3-day flight is a very small sample. The authors call the data preliminary. ◆◆◆◆ High · E
Proposed certainty (◆ High → ◇ Very low) and evidence-type tags: F flight · A analog · M model/animal · C computational · E expert/operational/standards. AI-proposed, pending reviewer confirmation. How to read the grades.
What was done
SpaceX Inspiration4 (2021) carried the first all-civilian crew to low Earth orbit, including the youngest American astronaut (aged 29). The 3-day flight tested handheld ultrasound, smartwatch wearables, immune profiling, eye-alignment measurements and deep multi-omic profiling [1].
Biospecimens were collected across a total of 289 days in 2021–2022. They included blood, dried blood spots, saliva, urine, stool, body swabs, skin biopsies and capsule samples, for 2,911 sample aliquots [3].
Key findings
- The flight caused a broad range of physiological and stress responses, eye-misalignment changes (a balance marker) and altered thinking. Some matched changes seen on long missions, but almost all returned to baseline after landing [1].
- The authors concluded that these preliminary data suggest short missions don’t pose a significant health risk [1].
- Immune: 18 cytokines changed. The immune spaceflight signature was confirmed in the NASA Twins Study, in Inspiration4 skin data and in 817 NASA GeneLab mouse transcriptomes [4].
- Microbiome: most changes were short-lived, but the oral microbiome showed longer-lasting shifts that tracked immune gene activity [5].
- Blood RNA: direct RNA sequencing found spaceflight-associated changes in an RNA modification called m6A and in blood-forming (hematopoietic) responses [6].
SOMA: the open atlas
The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and its international astronaut biobank increased the amount of public human space-omics data more than tenfold. They bring together data from the NASA Twins Study, JAXA, Inspiration4, Axiom and Polaris missions [2]. A review in the same package describes this as a “second space age” of omics and medicine [8]. Inspiration4 data are in NASA’s Open Science Data Repository, with controlled access for sensitive human data [7].
Limitations
- Four people, 3 days. Short missions can’t predict long ones.
- Many measures, few people: false positives are likely without replication.
- Several authors report commercial interests, listed in each paper.
Where to find the data
See Datasets & resources: the SOMA browsers, the Nature collection [9] and OSDR.
Evidence profile
- Overall certainty
- ◆◆◇◇ Low (proposed)
- Evidence types
- F · Flight dataE · Expert / operational / standards
- Literature through
- 2026-10-14
Requirements referenced 0
No NASA-STD-3001 requirement maps directly to this page. See the standards quick reference.
References 9
- Jones CW, et al. Molecular and physiological changes in the SpaceX Inspiration4 civilian crew. Nature. 2024;632:1155–1164. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07648-x PMID:38862026 Peer-reviewed F
- Overbey EG, et al. The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and international astronaut biobank. Nature. 2024;632:1145–1154. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07639-y PMID:38862028 Peer-reviewed F
- Overbey EG, et al. Collection of biospecimens from the Inspiration4 mission establishes the standards for the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA). Nat Commun. 2024;15:4964. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48806-z PMID:38862509 Peer-reviewed F
- Kim J, et al. Single-cell multi-ome and immune profiles of the Inspiration4 crew reveal conserved, cell-type, and sex-specific responses to spaceflight. Nat Commun. 2024;15:4954. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-49211-2 PMID:38862516 Peer-reviewed F
- Tierney BT, et al. Longitudinal multi-omics analysis of host microbiome architecture and immune responses during short-term spaceflight. Nat Microbiol. 2024;9:1661–1675. doi:10.1038/s41564-024-01635-8 PMID:38862604 Peer-reviewed F
- Grigorev K, et al. Direct RNA sequencing of astronaut blood reveals spaceflight-associated m6A increases and hematopoietic transcriptional responses. Nat Commun. 2024;15:4950. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48929-3 PMID:38862496 Peer-reviewed F
- Sanders LM, et al. Inspiration4 data access through the NASA Open Science Data Repository. NPJ Microgravity. 2024;10:56. doi:10.1038/s41526-024-00393-5 PMID:38744887 Peer-reviewed E
- Mason CE, et al. A second space age spanning omics, platforms and medicine across orbits. Nature. 2024;632:995–1008. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07586-8 PMID:38862027 Peer-reviewed E
- Nature. The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) collection. www.nature.com/collections/soma Other E
Machine-checked on 2026-10-14: each URL resolved, each DOI's title/journal/year matched via Crossref, and claims were checked against the source text (abstract or full NASA page). Human verification against full text is still required before review. NASA documents are U.S. Government works (public domain) and are summarized with attribution; journal articles are summarized, not reproduced.
Article info
- Authors
- Pending (AI-assisted draft)
- Reviewer
- Pending review
- Last reviewed
- Pending review
- Literature through
- 2026-10-14
- AI-assisted
- Yes (disclosed)
- COI
- Pending
- License
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Use
- Educational only · Disclaimer
- Cite this version
- Pending first edition