STS042-203-024 (22-30 Jan. 1992) --- Astronaut David C. Hilmers (right), STS-42 mission specialist, assists European Space Agency (ESA) payload specialist Ulf Merbold with the visual stimulator experiment on the Space Shuttle Discovery's middeck. This particular test is part of an ongoing study of the Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS). Seated in a stationary mini-sled, Merbold (or any other subject for this test) stares at an umbrella-shaped rotating dome with a pattern of colored dots on its interior. While observing the rotating dome, the subject turns a knob to indicate his perception of body rotation. The strength of circular vection is calculated by comparing the signals from the dome and the knob. The greater the false sense of circular vection, the more the subject is relying on visual information instead of otolith information.

jsc2010e184283 (Nov. 9, 2010) --- Electroencephalograph (EEG) Cap at NASA's Johnson Space Center, part of the Neurospat experiment. Neurospat investigates ways in which crew member's three-dimensional visual and space perception is affected by long-duration stays in weightlessness to help in help in finding and developing countermeasures alleviating any disorientation experienced by astronauts.

jsc2008e032967 (Apr. 9, 2008) --- Neurospat Light Shield and frame at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Neurospat investigates ways in which crew member's three-dimensional visual and space perception is affected by long-duration stays in weightlessness to help in help in finding and developing countermeasures alleviating any disorientation experienced by astronauts.

iss065e050323 (May 21, 2021) --- Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) performs magic tracks for the Illusion educational study. The experiment sponsored by ESA illustrates how visual perception and the central nervous system is impacted in microgravity.

S91-50404 (1 Nov 1991) --- Bebe Ly of the Information Systems Directorate's (ISD) Software Technology Branch at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) gives virtual reality a try. The stereo video goggles and head[phones allow her to see and hear in a computer-generated world and the gloves allow her to move around and grasp objects. Ly is a member of the team that developed the C Language Integrated production System (CLIPS) which has been instrumental in developing several of the systems to be demonstrated in an upcoming Software Technology Exposition at JSC.

jsc2008e032966 (Apr. 9, 2008) --- Neurospat Control pad bracket at NASA's Johnson Space Center to be delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). Neurospat investigates ways in which crew member's three-dimensional visual and space perception is affected by long-duration stays in weightlessness to help in help in finding and developing countermeasures alleviating any disorientation experienced by astronauts.

ISS030-E-116907 (13 Feb. 2012) --- Wearing an Electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode cap, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, Expedition 30 flight engineer, performs a NeuroSpat science session in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station. NeuroSpat investigates the ways in which crew members’ three-dimensional visual & space perception is affected by long-duration stays in weightlessness.

ISS038-E-001285 (14 Nov. 2013) --- In the International Space Station?s Columbus laboratory, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, Expedition 38 flight engineer, participates in a session with the European Space Agency-sponsored Reversible Figures experiment, which tracks how the adaptation of an astronaut?s neurovestibular system to weightlessness may alter 3-D visual perception.

ISS030-E-116908 (13 Feb. 2012) --- Wearing an Electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode cap, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, Expedition 30 flight engineer, performs a NeuroSpat science session in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station. NeuroSpat investigates the ways in which crew members’ three-dimensional visual & space perception is affected by long-duration stays in weightlessness.

iss060e014594 (7/25/2019) ---Photo documentation during the preparation for the VECTION experiment in the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The objective of The Effect of Long Duration Hypogravity on the Perception of Self-Motion (VECTION) study is to determine to what extent an astronaut's ability to visually interpret motion, orientation, and distance may be disrupted in a microgravity environment, and how it may adapt, and how it may be changed upon return to Earth. Multiple experimental time points inflight and upon return to Earth allows for the adaptation and recovery process to be investigated.

iss030e022627 (Jan. 3, 2012) --- European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andre Kuipers during his first orbital Neurospat session. Kuipers is wearing an Electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode cap before starting measurements. Neurospat investigates ways in which crew member's three-dimensional visual and space perception is affected by long-duration stays in weightlessness to help in help in finding and developing countermeasures alleviating any disorientation experienced by astronauts.

ISS026-E-027000 (12 Feb. 2011) --- European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli, Expedition 26 flight engineer, conducts a test run with the French/CNES neuroscientific research experiment ?3D-Space? (SAP) in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station. While floating freely, Nespoli used the ESA multipurpose laptop with a prepared hard disk drive, data storage on a memory card, and an electronic pen table connected to it. 3D-Space, which involves distance, writing and illusion exercises, is designed to test the hypothesis that altered visual perception affects motor control.

iss058e026479 (2/27/2019) --- NASA astronaut Anne McClain is shown in the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station (ISS) during the Vection experiment. The objective of The Effect of Long Duration Hypogravity on the Perception of Self-Motion (VECTION) study is to determine to what extent an astronaut's ability to visually interpret motion, orientation, and distance may be disrupted in a microgravity environment, and how it may adapt, and how it may be changed upon return to Earth. Multiple experimental time points inflight and upon return to Earth allows for the adaptation and recovery process to be investigated.

iss060e014613 (7/25/2019) --- European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmintano is shown in the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station (ISS) during the Vection experiment. The objective of The Effect of Long Duration Hypogravity on the Perception of Self-Motion (VECTION) study is to determine to what extent an astronaut's ability to visually interpret motion, orientation, and distance may be disrupted in a microgravity environment, and how it may adapt, and how it may be changed upon return to Earth. Multiple experimental time points inflight and upon return to Earth allows for the adaptation and recovery process to be investigated.

iss058e026473 (2/27/2019) --- Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut David Saint-Jacques is shown in the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station (ISS) during the Vection experiment. The objective of The Effect of Long Duration Hypogravity on the Perception of Self-Motion (VECTION) study is to determine to what extent an astronaut's ability to visually interpret motion, orientation, and distance may be disrupted in a microgravity environment, and how it may adapt, and how it may be changed upon return to Earth. Multiple experimental time points inflight and upon return to Earth allows for the adaptation and recovery process to be investigated.

One concern about human adaptation to space is how returning from the microgravity of orbit to Earth can affect an astronaut's ability to fly safely. There are monitors and infrared video cameras to measure eye movements without having to affect the crew member. A computer screen provides moving images which the eye tracks while the brain determines what it is seeing. A video camera records movement of the subject's eyes. Researchers can then correlate perception and response. Test subjects perceive different images when a moving object is covered by a mask that is visible or invisible (above). Early results challenge the accepted theory that smooth pursuit -- the fluid eye movement that humans and primates have -- does not involve the higher brain. NASA results show that: Eye movement can predict human perceptual performance, smooth pursuit and saccadic (quick or ballistic) movement share some signal pathways, and common factors can make both smooth pursuit and visual perception produce errors in motor responses.

Astronaut Jeffrey A. Hoffman, one of four crewmembers for STS-61 that will conduct scheduled spacewalks during the flight, wears a special helmet and gloves designed to assist in proper positioning near the telescope while on the end of the robot arm. Crewmembers are utilizing a new virtual reality training aid which assists in refining positioning patterns for Space Shuttle Endeavour's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) (36890); Astronaut Claude Nicollier looks at a computer display of the Shuttle's robot arm movements as Thomas D. Akers and Kathryn C. Thornton, mission specialists look on. Nicollier will be responsible for maneuvering the astronauts while they stand in a foot restraint on the end of the RMS arm (36891,36894); Hoffman wears a special helmet and gloves designed to assist in proper positioning near the telescope while on the end of the robot arm (35892); Nicollier looks at a computer display of the Shuttle's robot arm movements as Akers looks on (36893); While (l-r) Astronauts Kenneth Bowersox, Kathryn Thornton, Richard O. Covey and Thomas D. Akers watch, Nicollier moves the Robot arm to desired locations in the Shuttle's payload bay using the Virtual Reality program (36895); Bowersox takes his turn maneuvering the RMS while mission specialist Hoffman, wearing the Virtual Reality helmet, follows his own progress on the end of the robot arm. Crewmembers participating during the training session are (l-r) Astronauts Akers, Hoffman, Bowersox, Nicollier, Covey, and Thornton. In the background, David Homan, an engineer in the JSC Engineering Directorate's Automation and Robotics Division, looks on (36896).

STS044-14-013 (24 Nov-1 Dec 1991) --- Terence T. (Tom) Henricks, STS-44 pilot, tests his visual acuity with the Visual Function Test (VFT) apparatus. This photograph was among the first released by NASA following the eight day mission, dedicated to the Department of Defense.

Astronaut Ulf Merbold on the stationary seat of the mini-sled, stares into an umbrella-shaped rotating dome with colored dots. Astronaut Merbold, assisted by astronaut David Hilmer, are conducting the Visual Simulator Experiment, a space physiology experiment. The Visual Stimulator Experiment measures the relative importance of visual and vestibular information in determining body orientation. When a person looks at a rotating visual field, a false sensation of self-rotation, called circularvection, results. In weightlessness, circularvection should increase immediately and may continue to increase as the nervous system comes to rely more on visual than vestibular cues. As Astronaut Merbold stares into the rotating dome with a pattern of colored dots and its interior, he turns a knob to indicate his perception of body rotation. The strength of circularvection is calculated by comparing signals from the dome and the knob. The greater the false sense of circularvection, the more the subject is relying on visual information instead of otolith information. The IML-1 mission was the first in a series of Shuttle flights dedicated to fundamental materials and life sciences research with the international partners. The participating space agencies included: NASA, the 14-nation European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the French National Center of Space Studies (CNES), the German Space Agency and the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DAR/DLR), and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). Managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, IML-1 was launched on January 22, 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery (STS-42 mission).

ISS013-E-78295 (6 Sept. 2006) --- Haze in the Po River Valley of Italy is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 13 crewmember onboard the International Space Station. The valley is visible across the horizontal center of the frame, with the floor obscured by what NASA scientists refer to as frequent atmospheric haze, a mixture of industrial pollutants, dust and smoke. The visual texture of such haze is perceptibly different from that of bright white clouds which stretch across the top of the scene and cover part of the Alps. The Po River Valley is Italy's industrial heartland and one of the most industrialized regions on Earth, according to scientists. Northern Italy is in the foreground of this southwesterly view. The partially cloud-covered Alps are at lower right; the Adriatic Sea at lower left. Corsica is under partial cloud cover at center; and Sardinia, almost totally obscured, is to its south. The island of Elba is visible just to the west of Italy. By contrast with haze accumulation along the axis of the valley, the Alps and the Apennines are clearly visible, and Lake Garda can be seen in the foothills of the Alps. Other visible geographic features are the lagoon at Venice north of the Po River delta, and three small lakes north of Rome. The winds on the day this image was taken are mainly from the north, as shown by the flow lines in the haze near Venice. The haze typically flows south down the Adriatic Sea. Visibility in the Mediterranean basin is often reduced by hazes such as these, deriving from different sources in industrialized Europe.

These are the highest-resolution color images of any part of Saturn's rings, to date, showing a portion of the inner-central part of the planet's B Ring. The view is a mosaic of two images that show a region that lies between 61,300 and 65,600 miles (98,600 and 105,500 kilometers) from Saturn's center. This image is a natural color composite, created using images taken with red, green and blue spectral filters. The pale tan color is generally not perceptible with the naked eye in telescope views, especially given that Saturn has a similar hue. The material responsible for bestowing this color on the rings -- which are mostly water ice and would otherwise appear white -- is a matter of intense debate among ring scientists that will hopefully be settled by new in-situ observations before the end of Cassini's mission. The different ringlets seen here are part of what is called the "irregular structure" of the B ring. Cassini radio occultations of the rings have shown that these features have extremely sharp boundaries on even smaller scales (radially, or along the direction outward from Saturn) than the camera can resolve here. Closer to Saturn, the irregular structures become fuzzier and more rounded, less opaque, and their color contrast diminishes. The narrow ringlets in the middle of this scene are each about 25 miles (40 kilometers) wide, and the broader bands at right are about 200 to 300 miles (300 to 500 kilometers) across. It remains unclear exactly what causes the variable brightness of these ringlets and bands -- the basic brightness of the ring particles themselves, shadowing on their surfaces, their absolute abundance, and how densely the particles are packed, may all play a role. The second image (Figure 1) is a color-enhanced version. Blue colors represent areas where the spectrum at visible wavelengths is less reddish (meaning the spectrum is flatter toward red wavelengths), while red colors represent areas that are spectrally redder (meaning the spectrum has a steeper spectrum toward red wavelengths). Observations from the Voyager mission and Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer previously showed these color variations at lower resolution, but it was not known that such well-defined color contrasts would be this sharply defined down to the scale (radial scale) of a couple of miles or kilometers, as seen here. Analysis of additional images from this observation, taken using infrared spectral filters sensitive to absorption of light by water ice, indicates that the areas that appear more visibly reddish in the color-enhanced version are also richer in water ice. The third image (Figure 2) is a composite of the "true" and "enhanced" color images for easy comparison. This image was taken on July 6, 2017, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The image was acquired on the sunlit side of the rings from a distance of 47,000 miles (76,000 kilometers) away from the area pictured. The image scale is about 2 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel. The phase angle, or sun-ring-spacecraft angle, is 90 degrees. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21628