Astronauts Gaze Behavior in Visual Target Acquisition during Space Shuttle Flights

Abstract

We explored how weightlessness during space flight altered the astronauts gaze behavior with respect to flight day and target eccentricity. Thirty-four astronauts of 20 Space Shuttle missions had to acquire visual targets with angular offsets of 20{degrees}, 30{degrees}, and 49{degrees}. Measurements of eye, head, and gaze positions collected before and during flight days 1 to 15 indicated changes during target acquisition that varied as a function of flight days and target eccentricity. The in-flight changes in gaze behavior were presumably the result of a combination of several factors, including a transfer from allocentric to egocentric reference for spatial orientation in absence of a gravitational reference, the generation of slower head movements to prevent space motion sickness, and a decrease in smooth pursuit and vestibulo-ocular reflex performance. These results confirm that humans have several strategies for gaze behavior, between which they switch depending on the environmental conditions.