It looks like an uncomfortable seat with an attached polka-dotted umbrella, but really it is the experimental sled for the study of how well we adapt – or not -- to the microgravity environment of space.

In January 1992 the space shuttle Discovery flew Mission STS-42. This was the first International Microgravity Laboratory Mission (IML-1). One of the experiments aboard was the Space Adaptation Syndrome Experiment devised by Dr. Douglas G.D. Watt of McGill University. When an astronaut was seated on the ‘sled’, the umbrella would spin and a series of experiments would measure changes in how their body adjusted to effects that affected their balance. Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first female astronaut flew on that mission. She performed experiments in the Spacelab and on the space shuttle’s middeck using this sled and other related equipment.

Note: There is a more detailed description on the Museum’s web site