TWO students from Dundee University are considering careers in space medicine after completing internships with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Fifth-year medical students Amir Fathi and Neil Tan sampled space food, helped plan future space exploration projects and had one-to-one meetings with experts such as British astronaut Tim Peake, pictured during their eight weeks with the ESA at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.

Tan said: “Our time with the ESA has given me a great insight into the world of not just space medicine but occupational health medicine. We received an incredible insight into what it means to be a flight surgeon – doctors who are exclusively trained to work with astronauts – as well as the pressures they face in space.”

Fathi said: “Speaking with Tim Peake about his time on the International Space Station was a real privilege. We spent most of our time working on projects such as looking at the effects of visual function in space and its effect on balance and how changes in fluid shifts in microgravity and how this impacts on brain blood flow.”