Examination of the orientation of Listing's plane during the course of a prolonged space mission is of particular interest, as on Earth the Listing’s plane appears to be dependent on input from the vestibular system i.e. detected through the head position with relation to gravity. By exposing the astronaut to the weightlessness of space, this experiment can follow the subsequent adaptation of the astronaut’s vestibular system during the flight and after returning to Earth. The key question in this experiment is to what extent the orientation of Listing’s plane is altered by the adaptation of the vestibular system to weightlessness, or under gravitational levels less than or greater than those of Earth. A further question is whether the body compensates for the missing inputs from the vestibular system by substituting other mechanisms during long-term spaceflight.Vestibulo-oculomotor research and measurement technology for the space station era A.H.Clarke; Elsevier Science 1998, 28:173–184
