Space Nursing Society

Space Nursing Society (SNS) is an international space advocacy organization devoted to space nursing and the contribution to space exploration by Registered Nurses. SNS is an affliated, non-profit special interest group associated with the National Space Society.

Founded in 1991, the SNS has over 400 members from around the world including Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Greece, Scotland and the United States.

The SNS provides a forum for the discussion and exploration of issues related to nursing in space and its impact upon the understanding of earthbound nursing through conference participation and its newsletter Expanding Horizons.

The information being learned in the microgravity environment of space has tremendous applications for the bed-bound patient on earth.

Bedrest is considered analogous to some of the reactions the astronauts have experienced in space, which include inner ear fluid shifts, loss of plasma volume, muscle atrophy, demineralization and calcium/bone loss.

If one were to consider the issues of confined spaces, closed ecological systems with little personal space, and psychological-social interactions, there are many earth-bound counterparts that could benefit from what is being learned via space research (source: Expanding Horizons Vol. 2, Issue 1).