Human orientation and movement control in weightless and artificial gravity environments

Abstract

Our goal is to summarize what has been learned from studies of human movement and orientation control in weightless conditions. An understanding of the physics of weightlessness is essential to appreciate the dramatic consequences of the absence of continuous contact forces on orientation and posture. Eye, head, arm, leg, and whole body movements are discussed, but only experiments whose results seem relatively incontrovertible are included. Emphasis is placed on distinguishing between virtually immediate adaptive compensations to weightlessness and those with longer time courses. The limitations and difficulties of performing experiments in weightless conditions are highlighted. We stress that when astronauts and cosmonauts return from extended space flight they do so with both physical "plant" and neural "controller" structurally and functionally altered. Recent developments in adapting humans to artificial gravity conditions are discussed as a way of maintaining sensory-motor and structural integrity in extended missions involving transitions between different force environments.