The cosmos sometimes does amazing tricks with human consciousness. Not a single astronaut is immune from the oddities that can happen to his body in orbit. Now the process of thinking is distorted, then there is an eerie feeling of loss of orientation in space, then hallucinations begin …
DOWN HEAD AND UP FOOT
On a hot day on August 6, 1961, the ship, on board of which was the astronaut-astronaut German Titov, was launched into orbit. "Vostok-2" separated from the launch vehicle, and Titov himself was in zero gravity.
“From the first seconds of the rocket's movement, I started to work … The chronometer told me that Vostok-2 was about to enter its calculated orbit and a state of weightlessness should appear. The first impression was somewhat strange: as if I turned over and fly upside down. But after a few seconds it passed, and I realized that the ship had entered orbit, Titov recalled.
Later, Herman Stepanovich came to the conclusion that he was not tumbling, and the feeling he experienced can be explained by an ordinary illusion, something akin to a state called "going beyond one's own body."
Titov was still lucky, he "flew away" for only a few minutes, and for some astronauts and cosmonauts these sensations do not go away during the entire flight. Here is how one American astronaut aboard the Spacelab described his feelings: "I knew I was standing upright, and yet I felt like I was hanging upside down, even though everything else around me was in a normal position."
Promotional video:
A little later, a new trouble happened to him: “I whistled through the gateway to the command module, and - oh, miracle! - suddenly everything turned upside down. Later, the astronaut realized that all this was just a game of imagination, and nothing more.
Often, distortions in the perception of reality are caused by a simple lack of gravity. A body devoid of weight cannot send precise signals to the brain, which loses its orientation in space, which makes the astronaut feel as if he is standing on his head all the time. It's like going through the looking glass, where everything seems familiar and yet elusive to others.
UNUSUAL
Astronauts and astronauts do not always suffer from loss of orientation in airless space; many other oddities often happen to them. Visual perception is distorted, thinking is inhibited, mood swings occur. All these manifestations are called "cosmic nonsense." Why "nonsense"? Because they can endanger the entire flight, because an astronaut or an astronaut, roughly speaking, is inadequate.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, one of the first Soviet cosmonauts Boris Volynov flew into space twice. After each of the flights, TASS reported that the expeditions were completed without incident, the cosmonaut was feeling well. However, in reality, both flights ended in failure. In 1969 Volynov made its first flight.
Everything went well, except for the return of the Soyuz-5 spacecraft to Earth. The descent vehicle broke down and was rushing towards the Earth at great speed, the collision was of such force that the astronaut's teeth broke. But the main thing is that he survived. It took Volynov seven years to recover, and in 1976 he went into space with Vitaly Zholobov on the Soyuz-21 spacecraft to the Salyut-5 orbital station. The expedition did not work out from the very beginning: the astronauts felt a poisonous smell that accompanied them throughout the flight.
But that was not so bad. Then an accident occurred and the station was completely shut down.
“We were on the dark side of orbit, so the station was completely dark. Everything was silent, only the siren howled. The worst thing is that oxygen has ceased to be produced. We had no reserves at all, only the volume that was in the station itself. We both experienced intense stress."
The station was nevertheless launched, but the shock was so great that Vitaly Zholobov stopped sleeping, he started having headaches, and did not have the strength to work. The pungent smell that followed the crew during the entire flight did not add energy. It was decided to complete the mission ahead of schedule and return the astronauts to Earth. The reason for the smell remained unclear. Later, psychologists came to the conclusion that hallucinations, including olfactory hallucinations, were caused by experienced stress.
TWO BY TWO IS FOUR?
Weak gravity is quite capable of leading to more serious psychological problems and distortion of the perception of reality. So, Gilles Clement from the International Space University, located in the province of Alsace (France), believes that astronauts on board see objects smaller, and the distances seem to them shorter.
This has to be taken into account by engineers on Earth when they set various tasks for astronauts. Experiments have also shown that astronauts have problems even with simple mental tasks. So, it is difficult for them to imagine the rotation of various objects, apparently because the imagination works when it compares the movements of objects with the position of their own body.
The consequences are unpredictable.
“We hear people get lost on board the space station at times,” says scientist Lawrence Harris of York University in Canada. "This can lead to serious safety problems, for example when the crew members need to find an escape pod."
Some astronauts also said that this poses serious risks when performing delicate technical operations. In particular, they happened to move the switches to the wrong position due to distortion in perception. It also happened that they incorrectly estimated the speed of the approach of the spacecraft and the station during docking.
Perceptual problems like these can be devastating. And they often do! It's just that the flights of astronauts and cosmonauts are a taboo topic, and not all of what happens on board with the crew is made public. Often, the general public learns about certain difficulties years after the flight. An example of this is the unsuccessful flight experience of Boris Volynov.
And how much more is left behind the scenes!
SMART TIPS
One way or another, scientists have to think about how to avoid misunderstandings in space associated with the effects of gravity. Surely the astronauts will be helped by special devices, for example, the so-called smart glasses. Thanks to the glasses, it is possible to determine where the astronaut is and in which direction he is looking. An alternative solution could be smart design solutions for the interiors of ships and stations.
“The most powerful way is to provide them with constant visual cues. For example, paint one of the surfaces brown and agree among themselves that this is "bottom". You can also hang pictures, especially those that contain clear orientation clues. Or, for example, a video of waterfalls. These proposals may not be entirely frivolous when it comes to long-distance space expeditions, "- said the Canadian scientist.
Mark Dalecki of the University of York recently conducted a series of experiments in which he sent subjects into parabolic flight, creating a feeling of weightlessness for a short time. He found that visual cues were enough to reduce imaginary rotation problems in microgravity. Therefore, it is quite possible that the correct design of the spacecraft, which helps the crew to navigate in space, can eliminate some of the "space nonsense".
However, according to experts, we are still very far from understanding the whole complex of consequences of space missions for human consciousness. Despite the fact that man conquered space in 1961 - 54 years ago! - too little necessary research has been done.
Of course, there are still many cosmic effects that distort consciousness to be studied. Even things as simple as facial recognition can be affected by our sense of up and down and also be exposed to microgravity.
Ironically, the least explored area is the potential effects of space on human mood. How can we not remember Solaris! There, if you remember, the Ocean evoked memories in a person, “guests” came to people - the material embodiment of their most painful and shameful memories. It was impossible to get rid of the "guests". There is some evidence that the vestibular apparatus, which responds to movement and gravity, is associated with the regions of the brain that govern our emotions.
And how this can affect the well-being of astronauts or cosmonauts who will make long flights to Venus, Mars or Mercury (and this is only a matter of time) is still unknown. There is also evidence that the volume of blood circulating in the brain changes during space flight, and this, in turn, dulls mental acuity in a broader sense.
STAR CHILDREN
If humanity is to colonize the stars, earthlings will have to go on journeys that last for centuries and create families along the way. Perhaps in 50-100 years the colonists will live on Mars. And after a couple of centuries, people can plunge onto starships with nuclear power plants, which in a few generations will reach the nearest inhabited planet.
After all, the resources on Earth are not limitless, and future generations will have to seek refuge on another planet. Scientists are already thinking about what effect space will have on children born in flight.
In general, sexual intercourse in an airless space is technically quite feasible, but it is not yet clear how difficult it will be for a woman to bear a child in gravity. It is generally accepted that space travel is detrimental to health, but its effects on the reproductive system are not yet fully understood.
The limited research that has been conducted so far suggests that microgravity disrupts hormonal processes in the body, and cosmic radiation harms the development of the embryo. Nevertheless, here is the opinion of the Russian scientist, expert of the Institute of Biomedical Problems Lyubov Serova:
“It is quite possible to conceive, bear and give birth to a healthy child in space flight. Of course, not every woman is capable of such a feat - it is necessary to have excellent health and remarkable psychological conditioning, but from the point of view of medicine this is not too much of a problem."
But will the star children manage not to repeat the "cosmic nonsense" of their parents?
Vlad DRUGOV