The Neurolab Spacelab mission : neuroscience research in space : results from the STS-90, Neurolab Spacelab mission / edited by Jay C. Buckey Jr., Jerry L. Homick
- Title
- The Neurolab Spacelab mission : neuroscience research in space : results from the STS-90, Neurolab Spacelab mission / edited by Jay C. Buckey Jr., Jerry L. Homick
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The Neurolab (STS-90) was a 16-day space mission dedicated to researching the brain and nervous system that launched on April 17, 1998. This book is split into three sections. The first section contains scientific reports from investigator teams in which the investigators describe their experiments. These reports are divided into five major research areas: the balance system; sensory integration and navigation; nervous system development in weightlessness; blood pressure control; and circadian rhythms, sleep, and respiration. The second section provides technical reports, which are descriptions of particularly interesting procedures or equipment that were developed for this flight. One piece of equipment developed for this mission was a portable sleep laboratory. In order to perform a sleep study, one would have to go to a sleep study lab, but the operational demands of such could not be met as the Neurolab had limited space, power, and time. They made a sleep system which included a suit that measures respiratory movements (a respiratory inductance plethysmograph suit), sleep headgear to collect electroencephalography (EEG) and eye movement data, and a portable recording device to process and save this information. Once used in the Neurolab, this system could not also be used on Earth to measure sleep in a variety of settings, including patient’s homes, remote clinics, and hospitals without a fully equipped sleep study lab. The final section of the book offers perspectives from the crewmembers, as well as discussions of problems that occurred and how those problems might be corrected in the future. One such problem was animal care as conditions on the flight such as the windows on the Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF) did not allow for accurate assessment of rat health and thus, this mission had a very high rate of mortality in their rats.