By understanding radiation risks, future missions can plan practical changes -- such as locating astronaut sleeping spaces towards the center of the spacecraft where intervening material blocks more incoming radiation -- that may help to mitigate the risks associated with interplanetary travel. However, my lab believes the best way to protect astronauts from the harmful effects of space radiation is to understand at a basic science level how neuronal activity is disrupted by chronic radiation exposures.  One promising sign is that radiation exposures that occur in space rarely cause neurons in the brain to die, but rather cause smaller scale cellular changes. Thus, we should be able to develop strategies to modulate neuronal activity to compensate for radiation-induced changes. Our team is already starting a new set of chronic space-radiation experiments to test a candidate countermeasure drug.