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Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington                        May 12, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1753)

Catherine Watson
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281-483-5111)

RELEASE: 03-167

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BRAIN IN SPACE?  NEW NASA BOOK HAS THE 
ANSWERS

     NASA released a new book that shows the complex and 
sometimes surprising changes in the brain and nervous system 
that allow astronauts to adapt to weightlessness.

"The Neurolab Spacelab Mission: Neuroscience Research in 
Space," documents the results of a 16-day Space Shuttle 
mission dedicated to studying how weightlessness affects the 
brain and nervous system. The seven-person Shuttle Columbia 
(STS-90) crew (and two alternate crewmembers on the ground) 
worked with 26 experiments during the June 1998, Neurolab 
mission. The mission was a collaborative effort among NASA, 
its international partners and other government agencies, 
including the National Institutes of Health, the National 
Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

The experiments' results suggest nervous systems may need 
gravity to develop normally; some concept of how gravity 
works also may be "built in" to the brain. "Some experts 
studied gravity sensors, others the connections sensors make 
in the brain, and others the perceptions the astronauts 
themselves experienced," said Dr. Jay Buckey, an associate 
professor of medicine at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., 
who flew aboard Neurolab as a payload specialist. "Taken 
together, these experiments offer a comprehensive view of 
how the balance system strives to adapt to a novel 
environment, such as weightlessness. By putting all the 
scientific reports into one volume, the connections between 
experiments and their complementary nature became clear," 
Buckey said.

The book's commentary and summaries are designed to be 
accessible to general scientific readers, but the chapters 
also include detailed descriptions and references, which 
offer researchers opportunities for additional study.

The experiments are organized into five research areas:  the 
balance system; sensory integration and navigation; nervous 
system development in weightlessness; blood pressure 
control; and circadian rhythms and sleep. Each area is 
described in a brief introduction with detailed color 
illustrations.

"This research reveals how the nervous system, the most 
complex system in the body, is affected by and adapts to 
space," said NASA's Chief Scientist, Dr. Shannon Lucid, a 
former astronaut researcher. "Through the Neurolab mission, 
NASA investigators and agency partners have opened up a new 
path of research, allowing us to look at neurological 
problems in a new way. This book will be the basis for 
rewriting textbooks for years to come."

"Results from experiments performed on Neurolab will aid in 
an improved understanding of medical issues such as blood 
pressure control, balance disorders, and sleep disruption 
that affect Earth-bound humans," said Dr. Jerry Homick, the 
Neurolab mission scientist. "The varying levels of 
information provided by the book should be an asset to 
educators and students who wish to learn about the effects 
of weightless space flight on the brain and the nervous 
system."

The book is available through the U.S. Government Printing 
Office and can be ordered through the Internet at:

http://bookstore.gpo.gov/

For information about NASA, human space flight, biological 
and physical research programs on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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