A study shows that NASA has a big problem to solve before completing the first manned mission to Mars: The expiration date of medicine.

Astronauts heading to Mars might face a big problem with their medications. A new study has found that over half of the medicines they bring—like painkillers, antibiotics, allergy meds, and sleep aids—could expire before they return to Earth.

Astronauts get aches, pains, and allergies just like those of us back on Earth, but they may be out of luck if the pills go bad before they return home from the Red Planet.

Now imagine you have no way of refilling them, because you’re millions of miles from home. That’s the dilemma that will face astronauts on a Mars mission, a new study warns. More than half of the medicines stocked on the International Space Station ...

Medications commonly used by astronauts aboard the International Space Station might be ineffective or harmful on a multi-year mission to Mars. A Duke Health study suggests more than half of space-stored medications could expire during a three-year Mars mission.

NASA is embarking on its most complex crewed missions to Mars and has detected another challenge in its way: drugs that expire. It is one of the lesser-known issues among other dangers of space radiation and a hostile environment,