Description:
Determine if vestibular organs and/or the central vestibular system undergo some structural changes during long exposure to microgravity, which could be responsible for vestibular disorders when transitioning to a new gravitational environment.
Use well established and validated protocols to detect head-motion oscillospia and predict
acute or chronic vestibular syndromes. If the observed physiological changes in the crewmembers are more deleterious after the year-long
ISS expeditions than those documented after standard-duration ISS expeditions (~6 months), then relevant countermeasures will be required
to enable longer duration missions. Depending on the etiology of the vestibular disorders revealed by our tests, countermeasures to
these problems will be proposed based on vestibular rehabilitation therapy currently used in patients with vestibular disorders, such as
habituation, gaze stabilization, and/or balance training exercises.