Sleep-2 Experiment on STS-95
This experiment studied the effects of spaceflight on sleep and its regulation by the body's internal body clock. Previous Shuttle flights indicated that crews often did not sleep well in space. The principle objectives of this experiment were to study the effectiveness of melatonin as a sleep aid, to characterize space flight induced changes in sleep, and to determine the correlation between respiratory changes and in-flight sleep disturbances. The results of the experiment, coupled with those from the supporting ground-based studies, will determine if melatonin can be used as a sleep aid. This would be important not only for space crews, but also for the elderly who have problems sleeping, for individuals suffering from sleep disorders and for people who change work shifts. This was a reflight of an experiment flown on Neurolab in April 1998 to provide additional data and an increase in sample size.
For extensive coverage on STS-90 or STS-95, please check out the following web sites:
STS-95:
http://shuttle.nasa.gov/
or
http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-95/mission-sts-95.html
Click here to learn more about the Sleep-2 experiment
To learn more about the life science experiments on STS-95, follow this link: http://www.lifesciences.nasa.gov/sts-95/
STS-90:
http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-90/mission-sts-90.html
