Irene D. Long (born 1951), who was the first African American female chief of the Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health Office at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is one of the highest-ranking professional women at the Kennedy Space Center.

In that post, Long was responsible for overseeing that the health and welfare of workers remained compromised before, during, and after a space craft launch (a program so comprehensive that it has been used as a model at other worksites). Long's career in aerospace medicine also involves support to the Johnson Space Center's collection of medical data on the condition of astronauts, including the effects of space on an individual's physiology and the consequences of weightlessness. Her next position at NASA--director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center's Biomedical Office--lasted from 1994 to 2000. Since then, she has been the Kennedy Space Center's chief medical officer and associate director of Spaceport services.

Irene Duhart Long, the second of two children, was born November 16, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Andrew Duhart, a steelworker, and Heloweise Davis Duhart, who taught adult education. At the age of nine, fascinated by reports of the space program that she saw on television, Long informed her parents that she was going to have a career in aerospace medicine. Gearing her education toward fulfilling her childhood dream, she graduated from high school, enrolled at Northwestern University, and received her baccalaureate degree in biology in 1973. Long then attended the St. Louis School of Medicine, eventually obtaining a doctorate of medicine degree. Following residency training in general surgery at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic and Mt. Sinai Hospital (in Cleveland), Long enrolled in the Wright State University school of medicine and earned a master's degree in aerospace medicine.

Childhood Dream Realized

After completing the third year of the residency program at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, Long realized her childhood dream in 1982 by joining the staff at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As the Chief of the Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health Office, she worked with a team of physicians to provide medical services to the astronauts in emergency cases such as an aborted mission. Additionally, she and her office assured that the health of eighteen thousand workers, civil servants, and contractors at the Kennedy Space Center was not compromised.

Long managed the inspections of workspaces around the center to protect employees from exposure to various hazards such as toxic chemicals, fire, and decompression--all possibilities when a space craft is launched. In addition, she coordinated efforts between multidisciplinary teams--including personnel from the Department of Defense, environmental health agencies, and the astronaut office--that work together to stage successful launches, as well as prepare for emergency situations.

Long is a member of the Aerospace Medical Association and its affiliated Space Medicine Branch and Society of NASA Flight Surgeons, receiving the Society's Presidential Award in 1995. In 1996 she was elected as the second vice president of the Society of NASA Flight Surgeons and served as the organization's president in 1998. Also in 1998, she received the Outstanding Achievement Award by the nonprofit group Women in Aerospace.

Besides carrying out these duties, Long is also an author. In a landmark paper, she showed that people with sickle-cell trait--a condition different from the disease--should not be prohibited from flying. She determined that the lower oxygen level does not cause their red blood cells to sickle, which can be an extremely painful ailment.

One of the programs Long is proudest of helping to create is the Space Life Sciences Training Program. The program's goal is to encourage minorities and female college students to become interested and take part in science, particularly space life sciences. Participants spend six weeks at the Kennedy Space Center where they learn about space physiology in plants, animals and humans, experiment development, and teamwork concepts.

Long, whose hobbies outside of her work include making various craft items and collecting antiques, lives in Merritt Island, Florida.

Associated Organizations

Historical Context

• The Life and Times of Irene D. Long (1951-)
• At the time of Long's birth:
• Harry S Truman was president of the United States
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for espionage
• Charles Blair flew solo over the North Pole
• Color television was first introduced in the U.S.
• The times:
• 1950-1953: Korean War
• mid-1950s-1970: Pop Art
• 1957-1975: Vietnam War
• Long's contemporaries:
• Gloria Naylor (1950-) U.S. writer
• Sally Ride (1951-) U.S. astronaut
• Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (1952-) U.S. politician
• Anna Quindlen (1952-) U.S. journalist and novelist
• Benazir Bhutto (1953-) Pakistani prime minister
• Selected world events:
• 1952: First hydrogen bomb exploded by U.S. at Eniwetok Atoll
• 1956: Suez Canal is nationalized by Egyptian leader Gamel Abdel Nasser
• 1957: Soviet Union launches Sputnik satellite
• 1962: U.S. launches its first satellite, Telstar
• 1964: Surgeon Gen. Luther Terry charges cigarettes cause cancer
• 1969: Golda Meir becomes prime minister of Israel
• 1979: Serious accident occurs at Three Mile Island nuclear plant
• 1980: U.S. spacecraft Voyager I explores Saturn
• 1991: Soviet Union is officially dissolved

Further Reading

• Ebony, September, 1984, pp. 61-64.

• Long, Irene D., Interview with Barbara Proujan, conducted January 12, 1994.
• Kennedy Space Center Countdown, "http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/ksccount/1996/may/5-14-96.htm," July 22, 1997.
• NASA News Release Online, "http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/release/1998/109-98.htm," September 24, 1998.
• NASA News Release Online, "http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/release/1994/87-94.htm," August 1, 1994.
• KSC Biography Online, "http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/bios/long.htm," February 8, 2001.