RESULTS:
Quiet: astronauts sleeping. This investigation evaluated collection of cardiorespiratory data from crewmembers while they sleep, using a device in the breast pocket of a special shirt. This no-contact method allows continuous monitoring without interfering with sleep, and the results confirm that it is practical. Researchers obtained data on pulse and respiratory rate during sleep that is important for evaluating and predicting adaption to long-duration space flight and for monitoring crew health. Nighttime data collected following extra-vehicular activity (EVA), for example, showed that each subsequent EVA increases stress on the autonomous regulation of heart rate and respiration.

Data obtained through contactless acquisition of cardiorespiratory data over the night period could serve as a basis for developing efficient criteria for evaluating and predicting adaptive capability of human body in long-duration space flight. This is important not only from scientific, but also from a practical standpoint for the further development of the system for the crew health real-time monitoring. Such a system will become an important element in manned space flight safety, since it will allow a continuous monitoring of crew health. In addition to this, continuous records of sets of physiological data will permit to gather new information about the state of different levels of physisological functions control, of their co-ordination, and the way they are related to the degree of the body's adaptation to zero-gravity.