Does the brain work in space? We weren't certain

[jadamz]

Your brain works in space. But when President Kennedy said we’d go to the Moon, we didn’t know that

Would the human brain work in weightlessness?

That is, would astronauts sent into space be able to think–be able to do useful work?

Fifty-eight years into the era of human spaceflight, it seems like an antiquated question, almost silly. But at the dawn of the Space Age, we knew so little about everything that thinking in zero gravity was a serious concern–with good reason. If people couldn’t think in space, spaceflight would be a lot more challenging than it already was.

 

[TonyM]

Your brain works in space. But when President Kennedy said we’d go to the Moon, we didn’t know that

Would the human brain work in weightlessness?

That is, would astronauts sent into space be able to think–be able to do useful work?

Fifty-eight years into the era of human spaceflight, it seems like an antiquated question, almost silly. But at the dawn of the Space Age, we knew so little about everything that thinking in zero gravity was a serious concern–with good reason. If people couldn’t think in space, spaceflight would be a lot more challenging than it already was.

That was just one many concerns about how the human body would react to weightlessness and space flight. Understandable as unknowns that could involve tragedy were out there at the edge of a new era of exploration.