Am 19.01.2016 um 08:43 schrieb scott:

>> 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 :-)

I suspect it was more like, "Sorry, we need you to /not/ constantly puke
/all/ the time you'll be in /zero-g/, so..."

Also, I somehow suspect that this is an urban legend, where someone got
the following facts wrong:


- Alan Shepard was diagnosed with Meniere's disease during his training
for the Gemini project.

- Meniere's disease does indeed lead to false sensations of rotating,
which in turn is prone to induce nausea.

- In those days, Meniere's disease was indeed typically treated by
neurectomy, i.e. nerve cutting.

BUT:

- Meniere's disease would induce nausea regardless of g forces or
attitude changes involved. I would even reckon that the human brain
might adapt over time.

- Besides inducing nausea, false sensations of rotating would really
mess up your ability to safely pilot an aircraft (and, by extension, at
least from the reasoning of that time, a spacecraft), which would have
been much more of a concern for the Gemini 3 mission. So Alan Shepard
did not undergo treatment to prevent constant puking (because hey, that
was expected to be part of the deal for /anyone/) but to restore his
ability to properly judge changes (or absence thereof) in his
spacecraft's attitude.

- The nerve-cutting procedure to manage Meniere's disease would
apparently only involve the portion of the ear nerve responsible for
relaying orientation and acceleration information, while leaving hearing
intact.

- Meniere's disease does involve impaired hearing anyway.

- Ultimately, Alan Shepard did /not/ have any of his ear nerves cut, and
instead underwent a brand new and entirely different procedure, to be
fitted with a so-called endolymphatic shunt to drain excess fluid from
his inner ear.

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