Aerospace Medical Association Records (FSC-21)

The Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) is the largest, most-representative professional organization in the fields of aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

The Aerospace Medical Association was founded in 1929 under the guidance of Louis H. Bauer, M.D., the first medical director of the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce (which later became the FAA). Dr. Bauer and his associates dedicated themselves and the new Association to "dissemination of information as will enhance the accuracy of their specialized art...thereby affording a greater guarantee of safety to the public and the pilot, alike; and to cooperate... in furthering the progress of aeronautics in the United States." From the 1929 organizational meeting of 29 "aeromedical examiners," the Association has grown to its present strength of more than 3,200 members from over 70 countries.

The Aerospace Medical Association is an umbrella group providing a forum for many different disciplines to come together and share their expertise. The Association has provided its expertise to a multitude of Federal and international agencies on a broad range of issues including aviation and space medical standards, the aging pilot, and physiological stresses of flight. AsMA's membership includes aerospace medicine specialists, flight nurses, physiologists, psychologists, human factors specialists, and researchers in this field. Most are with industry, civil aviation regulatory agencies, departments of defense and military services, the airlines, space programs, and universities. Approximately 25% of the membership is international. Through the efforts of the AsMA members, safety in flight and man’s overall adaptation to adverse environments has been more nearly achieved.

Aerospace medicine concerns the determination and maintenance of the health, safety, and performance of persons involved in air and space travel. Aerospace Medicine, as a broad field of endeavor, offers dynamic challenges and opportunities for physicians, nurses, physiologists, bioenvironmental engineers, industrial hygienists, environmental health practitioners, human factors specialists, psychologists, and other professionals. Those in the field are dedicated to enhancing health, promoting safety, and improving performance of individuals who work or travel in unusual environments. The environments of space and aviation provide significant challenges, such as microgravity, radiation exposure, G-forces, emergency ejection injuries, and hypoxic conditions, for those embarking in their exploration. Areas of interest range from space and atmospheric flight to undersea activities, and the environments that are studied cover a wide spectrum, extending from the “microenvironments” of space or diving suits to those of “Spaceship Earth”.