by Last month, the remaining four lunar astronauts practiced ocean recovery after a long mission.
In the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, the Artemis 2 astronauts were assisted by a mock Orion spacecraft to learn how to safely exit their crewed mission around the moon, due to lift off in September 2025. Helping them during the ocean splash exercises were NASA and US Navy personnel.
It’s natural to be nervous anyway when you return to Earth’s gravity from a few days or months floating in space, but adding ocean swells can cause problems. Fortunately, new virtual reality (VR) technology could help astronauts feel less sick during their return to Earth.
Related: Why a VR headset on the ISS ‘really makes a difference’ for astronaut training
After years of space shuttle and Russian Soyuz spacecraft landing astronauts, there is now a splash back with NASA’s Orion spacecraft (led by Lockheed Martin) and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. (Boeing Starliner astronauts will touch down on the ground, as will space tourists with Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin.)
But seasickness is a problem even if you’re not coming back from space. So the University of Colorado Boulder is running several experiments to help combat motion sickness in astronauts, adding to decades of research in the field. A newer tool shows a lot of promise: VR goggles.
One of their experiments put volunteers into a centrifuge, where the simulated astronauts spun alone for an hour. That motion “mimics the discomfort astronauts experience when they suddenly switch from microgravity to the rigors of Earth’s gravity,” university officials wrote in a statement.
The participants were then put into a “sled” to be rocked back and forth for as long as an hour, depending on how long they lived. (The sick subjects got a quick escape, if they needed it.) But if you could stand it, VR goggles strapped to your head studied how long you’d last in the sled.
Half of the 30 subjects had only a white dot against a black background to focus on, while the other half saw “a digital forest complete with a few scaled cartoon people,” university officials wrote. The forest, the trees and the people rocked back and forth with the sled, allowing 12 of the 15 forest-viewing subjects to survive the entire hour. That compares to approximately 5 of the 15 people who looked at the point alone.
Graduate student Taylor Lonner is among the team studying aspects of motion sickness, and he says the astronauts will need all the help they can get when they come back to Earth. This is true not only Orion, but the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that are regularly used for splashdowns after International Space Station missions.
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“If you look at Orion and Dragon, there are only a few congested windows that are not enough to give astronauts a steady view of Earth,” Lonner said in the university’s statement, noting that the problem is not limited to astronauts alone. professional astronauts. Space tourists who rapidly enter suborbital space may also be at risk of motion sickness.
“We’re expanding this whole bubble of space exploration,” Lonner said, referring to the number of non-professionals flying into space. “But people won’t want to do that if they’re going to be bad when they get to microgravity and when they return to Earth.”
The team also presented its findings in February at NASA’s annual Human Research Program Investigators Workshop in Galveston, Texas.
If you’re looking for a VR headset for your home, check out our best VR headset guide. We’ve tested the major headset platforms for different types of gamers and to suit a range of budgets. Whether you want high resolution, a wireless experience or a budget-friendly option, the guide has you covered.
9. HTC Vive XR Elite
Hybrid VR and AR in a portable, but expensive package.
Platforms: Android or PC VR | Price: $1099 / £1299 | Resolution: 1920×1920 per eye | Field of view: Up to 110 degrees | Refresh rate: 90 Hz | Controllers: Controllers included
Lightweight, goggle-like design
A mixed reality that is almost affordable
Still expensive
No killer apps
