The Astronaut Protocol (emf2026)

Astronauts experience cognitive impairment, bone loss, muscle deterioration, depression, and continence challenges. Nobody calls it failure. Space stays aspirational on purpose. The language, the problem-solving, the refusal to accept the inevitable — these are deliberate choices made by mission teams who understood that how you frame a problem changes whether you can solve it. Dementia care never got that memo. The Astronaut Protocol draws on sixty years of space science to challenge our expectations of longevity, caring, and cognition. The same disciplines that underpin space exploration — neuroscience, physiology, psychology, human performance — inform how astronauts and their mission teams work the problem. When we do the same, something shifts — we start to see what's possible, draw on research evidence to make better decisions, and discover that astronauts and their mission teams might be the role models we never knew we needed. This talk is for the curious, the people who like to pull things apart and understand how they work, the problem-solvers — and anyone who has dementia on their radar. If you're looking for something constructive — not relentlessly positive, but genuinely practical — this is for you. There is rigorous science. There are stories you won't see coming. Dementia carries a gravity that space travel never had to. This talk is an invitation to put that gravity down — and look up. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/94-the-astronaut-protocol