RADIATION

Apollo astronauts have reported "seeing" bright flashes.  These flashes are a great concern because their source is believed to be cosmic rays - very energetic radiation - which can have an adverse impact on biologics and electronic systems.

...the determination that these flashes are cosmic energy shows that the spacecraft and spacesuits of the era were sufficient for mission success but in need of improvement.  Systems today and the International Space Station are not much improved for radiation protection.

The difficulty in understanding radiation on our astronauts is simply that the information is not centrally located.  Indeed some aspects of shielding , detection and exposure are likely buried in classified documents.  Lacking a known central source of information I considered the many manned space "platforms" of the past and present and focused on the oldest platform we have in space - the International Space Station (ISS).  Through my digging I have discovered the Workshops on Radiation Monitoring for the International Space Station (RMISS).  I have only read a handful of presentations for workshops 17, 15 and 9 and now intend to read every article of each workshop.  I am provided a few selected links.

"NASA has adopted the recommendations of the National Council on Radiation Protection.  Based on the Council's recommendations, NASA has established career limits for ISS crewmembers' exposure to space radiation.  Specifically, the Agency limits individual risk to 3 percent Risk of Exposure-Induced Death (REID) from cancer."

Robert Braeunig November 2009 created a publication "Apollo 11's Translunar Trajectory".  One quote stands out in his publication "Apollo 11's translunar trajectory was inclined, allowing the spacecraft to rise rapidly above the equatorial plane as it headed away from Earth.  (Although we've been dealing specifically with Apollo 11, all Apollo missions flew similar trajectories.)"  This would indicate that NASA performed all TLI's on the edge of the Van Allen belts to avoid increased radiation from those belts.  Although the Van Allen belts are weakest at the poles they are also the weakest points of the magnetosphere hence making them very strong points of entry for external radiation.

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#15 - September 7-9 2012 "Can the Terrestrial Magnetosphere Mitigate Radiation Hazard on Moon Missions?" Special note on the quote "The problem of Earth magnetosphere effect on Moon radiation environment needs more detailed investigation...there is some suspicion that the magnetosphere can make things worse"
#17 - September 4-6 2012 "ISSCREM: International Space Station Cosmic Radiation Exposure Module"
Workshop #18 took place September 3-5 2013 in Budapest, Hungary
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