Dl. Harm et De. Parker, PREFLIGHT ADAPTATION TRAINING FOR SPATIAL ORIENTATION AND SPACE MOTION SICKNESS, Journal of clinical pharmacology, 34(6), 1994, pp. 618-627
Two part-task preflight adaptation trainers (PATs) are being developed
at the NASA Johnson Space Center to preadapt astronauts to novel sens
ory stimulus conditions similar to those present in microgravity to fa
cilitate adaptation to microgravity and readaptation to Earth. This ac
tivity is a major component of a general effort to develop countermeas
ures aimed at minimizing sensory and sensorimotor disturbances and Spa
ce Motion Sickness (SMS) associated with adaptation to microgravity an
d readaptation to Earth. Design principles for the development of the
two trainers are discussed, along with a detailed description of both
devices. In addition, a summary of four ground-based investigations us
ing one of the trainers to determine the extent to which various novel
sensory stimulus conditions produce changes in compensatory eye movem
ent responses, postural equilibrium, motion sickness symptoms, and ele
ctrogastric responses are presented. Finally, a brief description of t
he general concept of dual-adapted states that underly the development
of the PATs, and ongoing and future operational and basic research ac
tivities is presented.