Humanity in the Era of Space Exploration: Challenging What It Means to Be Human

Abstract: NASA hopes to land humans on the Moon again in 2026. The Moon is but a first step in what has been called a new space race. Space agencies and private corporations alike have set their sights on Mars and beyond for reasons as diverse as scientific research, resource exploitation, space tourism, and mitigation of existential threats (e.g., climate change, asteroid strike). In time, it seems inevitable that humanity will populate space and other planets.
Spending long periods beyond low Earth orbit will require humans to adapt to new and inhospitable environments. Genomics can be used to select the most suitable candidates for space travel and to develop personalized countermeasures. Some scholars go further, arguing that gene editing astronauts is not only necessary, but a moral imperative. As a result, these astronauts – and perhaps their children – may be altered to a point where they can no longer return to Earth.
We argue that humanity’s future as a spacefaring species challenges what it means to be human, possibly leading to a next step in human evolution (homo spatialis) and raising new ethical concerns. We discuss three: (1) The use of genomics for crew selection raises issues of justice. (2) Gene editing astronauts requires the reconsideration of the therapy-enhancement distinction. (3) The possibility that space constitutes a different “moral ecology” from Earth. We propose an ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) framework to conceptualize and govern these and other concerns in the rapidly developing field of space science and technology.

Rosario Isasi, JD, MPH – Associate Professor, Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics, University of Miami