How humans will conquer Mars and beyond

Long-distance space travel presents unique challenges to science and the human body - but Kevin Fong, who is giving this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on the subject, says such obstacles will be overcome

This year the Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures look at the challenge of human space flight and what it takes to hurl humans into the final frontier on voyages of exploration.

As a doctor I spent more than a decade travelling back and forth between the UK and Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston, working as a visiting researcher on projects ranging from studying the effects of the space environment on ageing physiology to artificial gravity systems. At the same time I was completing my junior medical training in anaesthesia and intensive care. It was odd trying to splice those two lives together. Working on an intensive care unit overnight, heading to the airport at the end of the shift, grabbing some sleep on the plane, and then arriving the next day in a meeting room in Houston, where people were sitting around talking about how to send people safely to Mars.