>> Can't they just train the astronauts to not suffer from this type of
>> nausea as much? Or at least have it impact their functionality less.
>> Being able to launch with slightly less fuel requried seems quite a
>> strong goal to me.
>
> Not really.  It actually comes from the cerebellum and is pretty much a
> reflex.  Your eyes and inner ear disagree, and ever since we were
> dinosaurs, that could only mean one thing "Oh! crap, I've been
> poisoned!" and the reflex is to evacuate the toxin, by sweating and/or
> vomitting.

Didn't they try various things like projecting an image onto the inner 
walls that was in sync with the actual movement. Saying that, some 
people still feel ill with the VR kit, and that's only just their head 
moving! The same inputs seem to affect different people by vastly 
different amounts.

> They teach astronauts to try to compensate for it, but it's not always
> easy, and it used to be easier just to screen them before sending them
> to outer space.  There's one (whose name escapes me at the moment) who
> had to have one of his ear nerves completely severed, making him deaf on
> that side at the same time, to resolve the issue.

Now we're talking. Sorry, we need to save 5 kg of fuel, and we can't 
have you puking each time we turn (although if you could just aim your 
puke along this axis and open the window...) so we have to take your 
inner ear out :-)

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