S97-04935

During STS-90 crew training, Dafydd R. (Dave) Williams, mission specialist (seated), and Alexander W. Dunlap, alternate payload specialist, instrument themselves for sleep studies in the Space Shuttle mid-deck mock-up. The equipment includes the sleep net (a mesh cap that monitors and records brain waves); a Respiratory Inductance Plethysmograph (RIP) suit used to monitor respiration; and an activity monitor, a device worn on the wrist to detect and record body movement. Data on brain waves, eye movements, respiration, heart rate, and oxygen concentration are routed to a portable data recorder. The entire system has capabilities similar to a fully equipped sleep laboratory on Earth.