Gaylen Johnson was a NASA Group Leader for the Medical Operations Working Group. This group was responsible for defining the requirements for health care systems in support of astronauts and cosmonauts involved in cooperative missions.

Johnson served as the Flight Surgeon for the second Shuttle-Mir increment, serving as a communicator and providing for her physical and psychological well-being.

In his Oral History, Mir astronaut David Wolf talks about the importance of flight docs. Wolf said: "The flight surgeons take on a new importance in a mission like this. They do more than what would traditionally be considered flight surgeon work. They are your alter ego. They're yourself on the ground, and they know the people you need to talk with and communicate with."

According to Wolf, flight surgeons were the Mir astronauts' "gateways" for all sorts of information and communication.

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