(Nov 9, 2016)

Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans was interviewed for a Washington Post article titled "Why scheduling naps is one of NASA's most important jobs" (published on October 3, 2016). As the Principal Investigator of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory, Dr. Evans has extensive experience in investigating how fatigue can be mitigated for astronauts, pilots and others. For this article, Dr. Flynn-Evans explained the challenges experienced by astronauts who are sleeping in the weightless environment of the International Space Station (ISS). In addition, she discussed the sleeping conditions in earlier spacecraft such as the Apollo Lunar Module, Skylab and Mir. Dr. Flynn-Evans provided an overview of her research in evaluating tools that measure fatigue, and she described techniques to improve the circadian rhythms of astronauts.