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Biosatellite BION-M1 was launched on April 19 and landed on May 19, 2013. The mission program was largely a continuation of the earlier flown 11 BION projects, FOTON-M2 and FOTON-M3. The biosatellite was inhabited by a great variety of living organisms used for experiments and studies in gravitational physiology, gravitational biology, biotechnology, astrobiology and radiation biology, dosimetry and spectrometry. This was the first time in the history of national biology and physiology when male mice C57bl/6 were chosen for a long-term space experiment focused upon molecular biology investigations. Unfortunately, because of technical failures during the flight a part of the animals were lost. However, the major objectives were attained through reconsideration of biomaterial division among investigators and completion of virtually the total scope of investigations.

Doses from space ionizing radiation were estimated using a model of ISS cosmonaut's quarters (CQ) outfitted with secondary shielding ("Protective shutter" (PS) as part of experiment MATRYOSHKA-R). Protective shutter is a "blanket" of water-containing material with mass thickness of - 6 g/cm2 covering the CQ exterior wall. Calculation was performed specifically for locations of experimental dosimetry assemblies. Agreement of calculations and experimental data reaching accuracy - 15% proves model applicability to estimating protective effectiveness of secondary shielding in the present-day and future space vehicles. This shielding may reduce radiation loading onto crewmembers as an equivalent dose by more than 40% within a broad range of orbit altitudes equally during the solar minimum and maximum.

The paper considers the fundamental principles of the Russian countermeasures system validated successfully in multiple long-term missions to the Russian space stations. The system adopted on the ISS Russian segment is detailed. In particular, it is pinpointed that physical training of cosmonauts was adjusted to the demands of the stages of ISS assembly and utilization. The locomotion training performed with departures from the flight documentation (ODFs) is described. The concluding section of the paper lays out the picture of vistas for the system of countermeasures in future exploration missions.