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imagine flying aboard the space shuttle

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the main engines fire then with a

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powerful jolt the solid rocket motors

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the acceleration and intense pull of

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gravity during ascent is tremendous

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but when the main engines cut off and

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the shuttle reaches low earth orbit the

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crew enters a totally new environment

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everything floats there is no up or down

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and for 70 percent of first-time space

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fares the initial couple of days in

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orbit means they will feel ill

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microgravity disturbs the workings of

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the inner ear much the way car or air

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travel can affect people on earth

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responding to this need scientists have

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been developing a pre-flight adaptation

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trainer for astronauts to use before

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they fly

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the neurosciences laboratory at nasa's

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johnson space center is responsible for

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studying the human body's condition in

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understanding gait posture and other

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adaptable functions help scientists stay

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in touch with human space travel needs

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shuttle missions typically last up to 10

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days but future space station visits and

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long-range lunar or martian outposts

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will mean months or maybe years of space

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living

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neuroscientist dr deborah harm what

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we're trying to do here is to develop

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equipment and hardware and software that

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will allow us to present

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potential space travelers with a set of

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sensory conditions as similar to what

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they will experience in flight as we can

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get them

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the subject is strapped inside a

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spherical trainer

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large overhead projectors display a

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montage of computer-generated patterns

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that fill the person's field of view

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it is the movement of these patterns

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that eventually fools the subject into

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thinking that he is

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not the visual

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so the scene is not moving at all

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two-way communication allows them to

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describe their experience and for dr

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harm to request different

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once exposed to a variety of

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pre-programmed visual cues the brain

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recalibrates itself to accept what is

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similar to a weightless environment

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training in the pre-flight adaptation

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trainer will reduce the intensity and

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the time that it takes them to adapt to

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microgravity and then reduce the

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intensity and the duration of the

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symptoms motion sickness symptoms

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the human body is essentially plastic

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meaning that it is capable of conforming

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to any environment even space

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when members of the skylab 4 crew

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returned to earth after nearly three

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months in orbit their first steps were

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tenuous

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they did re-adapt but it took time

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today many astronauts coming back from

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space undergo evaluations so that

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researchers can better understand this

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process

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in the next decade this research will be