The 29th ESA parabolic flight campaign
(Mérignac, Bordeaux - France 10th to 21th March 2002)
The 29th ESA parabolic flight campaign
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| Space sickness is a form of motion sickness which affects approximately 70 % of novice astronauts and cosmonauts to some degree in the first 24-48 hours of a mission. It results in loss of performance and can pose potential hazards if it occurs to the extent of vomiting in a space suit outside of a spacecraft. |
Results of the 29thESA parabolic flight campaign :
Intrinsic motion sickness susceptibility (mean percentile MSSQ score 29) was less (P<0.001) than observed in the general population (mean MSSQ percentile score 50 by definition)
Overall : one third of the subjects had nausea at some stage on their first flight and five vomited.
Medicated (n=17) with antiemetic (Scopdex) experienced significantly (P<0.05) less nausea (mean scale score 2.2) than those Medication-Free (n=6) (mean scale score 4.4). (NB. groups equivalent on MSSQ)
Protection was far from being complete with 3/17 versus 2/6 vomiting respectively.
Informal questioning suggested that those individuals who performed further flights appeared to acquire some degree of protection by habituation.
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