Space and High-altitude biomechanics

Spaceflight and high‑altitude environments profoundly alter mechanical loading, fluid distribution, and gas exchange, challenging the integrity and function of the musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory systems. These conditions accelerate bone loss, muscle atrophy, connective tissue remodelling, and neuromuscular deconditioning, with important implications for injury risk, performance, and long‑term health during and after missions. At the same time, they offer unique opportunities to probe fundamental questions of mechanobiology and adaptation mechanisms that are difficult to address on Earth.This Research Topic aims to bring together experimental, computational, and translational studies that advance the understanding of biomechanics in space and high‑altitude settings and to identify effective countermeasures that protect structure and function. By assembling contributions from physiology, bioengineering, aerospace medicine, and mechanical and aerospace engineering, this Research Topic seeks to define current challenges, highlight emerging technologies and models, and outline research priorities for the next generation of human exploration and high‑altitude operations.Since the first human spaceflight in April 1961, the rapid expansion of crewed and uncrewed missions, commercial spaceflight, and high‑altitude operations has led researchers to reconsider how the body loads, moves, and adapts in reduced‑gravity, hypobaric, and hypoxic environments. Microgravity induces rapid changes in muscle, bone, cartilage, tendons, joints, and the neuromuscular system, while high‑altitude exposure interacts with hypoxia, cold, and altered atmospheric pressure to reshape mechanical demands on the body.These conditions not only threaten health and performance but also provide powerful “real‑world experiments” to understand mechanotransduction, tissue remodelling, and integrated physiological control. Advances in wearable sensors, imaging, computational modelling, tissue engineering, and omics‑level analysis now allow multiscale characterization of these adaptations—from molecules and cells to whole‑body movement and mission performance—opening new avenues for both space medicine and terrestrial healthcare.This Research Topic welcomes original research, brief research reports, methods papers, reviews, mini‑reviews, perspectives, and opinion articles related to the biomechanics of spaceflight and high‑altitude environments. Submissions may address, but are not limited to:• Musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, and cardiorespiratory biomechanics in microgravity, partial gravity, and high‑altitude settings;• Mechanotransduction and tissue remodelling in muscle, bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament, and fascia under altered loading;• Biomechanics of movement, posture, locomotion, extravehicular activity (EVA) tasks, and occupational performance in space or high‑altitude operations;• Ground‑based analogues (e.g., bed rest, dry immersion, parabolic flight, hypobaric chambers) and animal or in vitro models;• Computational and multiscale modelling, wearable and remote sensing, and advanced imaging for space and altitude biomechanics;• Design, evaluation, and optimization of countermeasures (exercise regimens, devices, suits, habitats, assistive technologies).Contributions spanning basic, applied, and translational research are encouraged, as well as interdisciplinary work linking physiology, bioengineering, aerospace medicine, and mechanical and aerospace engineering. Topic editors: Csaba Matta, FABIANO BINI, Laszlo Csernoch Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80906/space-and-high-altitude-biomechanics