Offsetting Gravity

The Coastal Center and the NASA Biomedical Team are working together to adapt a suspension device that simulates weightlessness. Attempts to approximate weightlessness have led astronauts underwater and into harnesses that suspend all or part of their weight. One such device, built at Langley Research Center, is being transferred to rehabilitation work. It can help a person walk and re-learn muscular coordination following a stroke. Hospitals could use it to lift handicapped persons.