> 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.
>

IT's still part of the protocol, but not the first step.


> 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.

When my wife gets her vertigo attacks, she had difficulty piloting her 
bed!  She definitely wouldn't be able to pilot a spaceship.

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