June 03, 2025

Visually Impaired People in Space; NASA on SANS

13 minutes

NASA tells In Touch about a condition that affects the vision of around 70% of their astronauts. It is called SANS and although the space agency aren't currently seeing hugely negative affects to their astronaut's vision upon returning to Earth, they are concerned about what could happen once we begin longer-term space exploration, with this being considered a 'red risk' of reaching Mars.

Dr Sheri Wells-Jensen is a huge space enthusiast and within her role as a Linguistics professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, her focus is on welcoming disability as necessary part of future space exploration and potential occupation. Sheri describes the concept of her work and also shares her experience of flying in micro-gravity.

Presenter: Peter White

Producer: Beth Hemmings

Production Coordinator: Jack Thomason

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

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