NASA "Bed Rest" Contractor Blogs the Days

Arguendo writes "It seems that earning $5000 a month for bed rest as a NASA contractor may not be so enjoyable after all. A 38 year-old woman selected for the study is blogging about her experience as test subject for NASA's study about the long-term effects of microgravity on people. There's quite a bit of information on her page, including info about the screening process, the food options [.xls link], and the not-so-great days of testing and immobility. It definitely sounds like work."

Comments

Stuck in a bed for months = torture

[Badmovies]

I sustained a serious eye injury when I was about 12 that required me to stay in bed, on my back - only on my back, not my side - for a month. The injured eye was covered with a bandage. I could not read, watch TV, or do anything that might cause the eye to be used (apparently the covered eye would move in unison with the uninjured one if I read or watched TV).

So, except for necessary restroom breaks, and a short bath every 2 or 3 days, I was stuck in that bed with just a radio for entertainment. It was not pleasant. Even less pleasant because Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" was the big hit at the time. That song still causes an unpleasant Pavlov reaction over two decades later.

McSweeney's

[olclops]

There was another guy that was doing a similar study about a year ago. He made a big deal about how he was going to keep a journal and post them on McSweeneys.net. He started out really excited, and then day by day, the posts got more and more terse and depressing. Until finally they just stopped. Only two weeks in. Never heard how that turned out. But it was enough to convince me to never, ever volunteer for a study like that.

Stop complaining!

[Anonymous Coward]

Where else can an attractive young lady make that much money just by lying on her back?