UF doctor bridges medicine, engineering for human spaceflight through VAST space experience

Peter Alexandrov, M.D., a University of Florida emergency medicine physician and member of the Astraeus Space Institute, recently completed a two-month rotation with VAST, a private space company hoping to soon launch the world’s first commercial space station. 

As part of Alexandrov’s training and education in space medicine and the UF Astraeus Space Institute and College of Medicine’s space medicine program development, Alexandrov worked closely with VAST’s lead flight surgeon Dana Levin, M.D., and engineering teams in Long Beach, California. Part of his role involved learning how to integrate medical expertise into the engineering design process — helping the company develop human systems that support long-term space missions. 

“Historically, there has been a disconnect between medical and engineering processes,” Alexandrov said. “But both fields are fundamentally about managing risk. Bridging gaps in communication and professional understanding is important to helping humanity gain a permanent foothold among the stars.”

At VAST, Alexandrov sat alongside flight surgeons as well as human system, food, and propulsion engineers, to name a few, while learning under Levin to apply clinical knowledge in a highly technical, fast-paced engineering environment. 

“If you thought health was complex on Earth, wait until you see what happens to us in spaceflight. But, you realize quickly that the human body and our ingenuity is also an asset that can contribute to a successful mission. Think back to Apollo 13. Designing systems built from the ‘ground up’ to support human health and well-being increases our chances at colonizing our solar system and beyond,” he said.

Now back at UF, Alexandrov is launching a new space medicine program under the College of Medicine. The program includes plans for one of the nation’s few space medicine fellowships and aims to position UF as a hub for training future space physicians. 

The mission of the Astraeus Space Institute is to bridge professional silos to support long-term human presence in space.

“It’s not just about surviving in space,” Alexandrov said. “It’s about bringing who we are with us — how we live, eat, work, and thrive. This isn’t science fiction anymore. The next generation of space physicians will help design missions from the inside out, and we’re helping to build that future here at UF.”