Quote:The U.S. Navy is unleashing its monstrous Kraken device on NASA, allowing the space agency to use the dizzying machine for an upcoming study that could help it mitigate the effects of spaceflight on astronauts.

A group of 24 active duty service members will get to ride the 50-foot-long (15 meters) machine for 60 minutes, spinning like a dirty sock inside a washing machine at accelerations up to three times the force of gravity to simulate what astronauts experience during spaceflight, NASA announced on Wednesday. The torturous ride is meant to help scientists come up with ways to reduce symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and vertigo once astronauts exit their spacecraft.

Quote:For the upcoming study, the Kraken will be on a spaceflight-specific setting, as opposed to settings meant for jet pilots, allowing NASA scientists to study whether certain head movements could help ease astronauts’ motion sickness after their flight, according to NASA. “With the ability to move six directions on its axis, the device can simulate complex flight scenarios that are difficult to recreate on Earth, including landing scenarios that could induce vertigo and nausea,” Laura Bollweg, who manages astronaut health research at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in the statement.