images

Astronaut Roberta Bondar in rotator chair

by

Nasa/Novapix

Reference

e-sts04-23001

Date

2007-12-01

STS-42 Payload Specialist Roberta L. Bondar gets into the Microgravity Vestibular Investigations rotator chair to begin an experiment. The chair is mounted in the center aisle of the International Microgravity Laboratory 1 spacelab module. Just above Bondar's head is the helmet assembly which is outfitted with accelerometers to measure head movements and visors that fit over each eye independently to provide visual stimuli. The chair system has three movement patterns: "sinusoidal" or traveling predictably back and forth over the same distance at a constant speed; "pseudorandom" or moving back and forth over varying distances; and "stepped" or varying speeds beginning and stopping suddenly. 01/1992