Abstract
Performance of astronaut pilots during space shuttle landing was degraded after a few weeks of microgravity exposure, and longer-term exposure has the potential to impact operator proficiency during critical landing and post-landing operations for exploration-class missions. Full-motion simulations of operationally-relevant tasks were utilized to assess the impact of long-duration spaceflight on operator proficiency in a group of 8 astronauts assigned to the International Space Station, as well as a battery of cognitive/sensorimotor tests to determine the underlying cause of any post-flight performance decrements. A ground control group (N = 12) and a sleep restriction cohort (N = 9) were also tested to control for non-spaceflight factors such as lack of practice between pre- and post-flight testing and fatigue. On the day of return after 6 months aboard the space station, astronauts exhibited significant deficits in manual dexterity, dual-tasking and motion perception, and a striking degradation in the ability to operate a vehicle. These deficits were not primarily due to fatigue; performance on the same tasks was unaffected after a 30-h period of sleep restriction. Astronauts experienced a general post-flight malaise in motor function and motion perception, and a lack of cognitive reserve apparent only when faced with dual tasks, which had recovered to baseline by four days after landing.
Highlights
For future exploration-class missions to asteroids or other planetary bodies crewmembers will be required to perform operational tasks following extended periods of microgravity exposure
The collision was initially attributed to piloting errors in the form of ‘late realization that the closing rate was too high’ and ‘incorrect final avoidance maneuvering’[5], subsequent reviews determined that a variety of other factors contributed to the accident, such as fatigue[6], issues with the range radar, and inadequate planning and crew training[7].There have been five significant teleoperation
Due to the small data sets, a non-parametric single-tailed Mann-Whitney U test was implemented in SPSS (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY) to determine if day of landing (R + 0) data changed significantly (p < 0.05) compared to preflight data; single-tailed as based on post-flight changes reported in the literature and our own previous experience, we hypothesized that long duration spaceflight would only impair astronaut function post-flight
Summary
For future exploration-class missions to asteroids or other planetary bodies crewmembers will be required to perform operational tasks following extended periods of microgravity exposure. Subjects participating in the sleep restriction group performed three 60-min baseline sessions (analogous to astronaut pre-flight testing) an average of 6.1 days (SD 2.4; range 4–10) apart; the first session was a combination familiarization/data collection session, the final two were data collection only. Sleep-restricted subjects performed a scaled-down protocol consisting of the sleepiness scale, manual tracking and dual tasking, and the driving simulations.
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