---
title: "NASA Is Scanning Its Astronauts’ Eyes and Veins Aboard the ISS"
description: "Astronauts aboard the International Space Station can now add \"biometric technician\" to their resumes. "
date: "2022-02-16"
modified: "2022-02-16"
authors:
  - name: "Noor Al-Sibai"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-biometric-scans"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "biometrics"
  - "international space station"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Is Scanning Its Astronauts’ Eyes and Veins Aboard the ISS

![Astronauts aboard the International Space Station can now add "biometric technician" to their resumes. ](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/nasa-biometric-scans.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Futurism\</em\>*

## Vein Attraction

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station can now add "biometric technician" to their resumes.

In a blog post about the comings and goings aboard the ISS, [NASA noted](<https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2022/02/15/vein-eye-scans-as-russian-cargo-mission-orbits-toward-station/>) that two of its astronauts, along with another from the European Space Agency, gave each other eye and vein scans this week, with the assistance of "doctors on the ground monitoring in real time."

Gathered inside the cylindrical [Columbus laboratory module](<https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/europe-columbus-laboratory>), NASA flight engineers Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Marshburn were joined by the German astronaut Matthias Maurer for a fun gathering in which they [attached an ultrasound imaging device](<https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=736>) to each others' neck, shoulder, and leg veins, along with eye scans. The idea, NASA said, was to help doctors "understand how living in microgravity affects the human body."

https://twitter.com/Astro_illini/status/1337156549337214976

## Watch This Space

NASA has for the past few years been getting deeper into the biometrics game, from spinning off a [sensor watch that tracks wearers' vital signs](<https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2019/hm_6.html>) to filing patents for [biometric technology geared towards identity verification](<https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/TOP2-202>) that can be used by both astronauts and military personnel alike.

Via the agency's Technology Transfer Program, businesses are able to buy and license NASA-developed tech, and in 2020 the agency's biometric research gained some buzz amid reports of its "HeartbeatID" device, which could reportedly [turn a person's heartbeat into a password](<https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2020/02/nasa-tech-could-replace-passwords-your-heartbeat/163292/>). That tech, still seemingly patent-only, could according to NASA have applications in everything from banking to national security.

By comparison, the eye and vein scans aboard the ISS seem pretty mild — but it is curious to consider the possibilities NASA, or the businesses and agencies that license with it, are considering when it comes to biometric data.

**READ MORE:** [Vein, Eye Scans as Russian Cargo Mission Orbits Toward Station](<https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2022/02/15/vein-eye-scans-as-russian-cargo-mission-orbits-toward-station/>) \[NASA\]

**More on biometrics:** *[Scientists Working on Toilet That Identifies You By Your Butthole](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-toilet-identifies-butthole>)*

## Author
At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/noorfromfuturism.bsky.social>)