OBJECTIVES:
The purpose of the Mental Representation of Spatial Cues During Space Flight (3D-Space) experiment was to investigate the effects of exposure to microgravity on the mental representation of spatial cues by astronauts during and after space flight. The absence of the gravitational frame of reference during space flight may be responsible for disturbances in the mental representation of spatial cues, such as the perception of horizontal and vertical lines, the perception of objects’ depth, and the perception of targets’ distance. This investigation included three perceptual/motor tasks, which were conducted pre-, in- and postflight. One task included writing words horizontally and vertically and drawing geometrical objects using a digitizing tablet. A second task involved adjusting the shape of a geometrical illusion or a three-dimensional object presented in a head-mounted virtual reality display. The third task included estimating the relative or absolute distances between objects and landmarks in three-dimensional images presented in the head-mounted display.

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