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Astronauts study reveals brain struggles to unlearn gravity in space

EuroNews · · 549 words · By Theo Farrant
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/04/21/memory-of-gravity-after-months-in-space

fact_checkFact-Check Results

10 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 5
info Single Source 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
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“Researchers working with 11 astronauts discovered that even in weightlessness, the brain continues to behave as if gravity is still present”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results discuss astronauts exhibiting behaviors related to gravity in weightlessness, suggesting the brain's continued expectation of gravity. The evidence points to the concept that astronauts' brains retain a memory of gravity even in microgravity.
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web search NEUTRAL — Astronauts on the International Space Station experience only microgravity and thus display an example of weightlessness. Michael Foale can be seen exercising in the foreground.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlessness
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web search NEUTRAL — After they returned to Earth, astronauts initially made the same “errors”—even reporting the objects were heavier than they thought—but eventually adjusted. Researchers say that the tighter grip force…
https://nautil.us/the-ghost-of-microgravity-in-astronauts-br…
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web search NEUTRAL — Weightlessness, or the absence of gravity, has several short-term and long-term effects on astronauts.Temporary health effects. Weightlessness causes several key systems of the body to relax, as it is…
https://www.space.com/23017-weightlessness.html
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“The human brain retains such a deep-rooted memory of gravity that astronauts in space continue to misjudge how tightly to grip objects even after spending months in weightlessness”
CORROBORATED
The web search results repeatedly confirm the core idea that the human brain retains a memory of gravity, causing astronauts to misjudge grip force even after prolonged time in weightlessness.
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web search NEUTRAL — The human brain retains such a deep-rooted memory of gravity that astronauts in space continue to misjudge how tightly to grip objects even after spending months in weightlessness, according to a ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/astronomy/astronauts-brain…
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web search NEUTRAL — Summary: Even after months of floating in microgravity, the human brain remains "haunted" by Earth's pull. A new study reveals that astronauts consistently over-grip objects in space because their bra…
https://neurosciencenews.com/astronaut-grip-gravity-memory-3…
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web search NEUTRAL — Similarly, the team also found that, while in space, astronauts actually exerted more force than necessary to grip objects because their brains still expected the presence of gravity.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/as…
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“The study, led by Philippe Lefèvre, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Université Catholique de Louvain and Ikerbasque, tracked 11 astronauts (2 females, 9 males) aboard the International Space Station over missions lasting five to six months.”
CORROBORATED
Two separate web search results mention the study led by Philippe Lefèvre and Ikerbasque tracking 11 astronauts (2 females, 9 males) on the ISS. While the specific details (2F/9M) are not confirmed by a second independent source, the core elements of the study, the researchers, the number of astronauts, and the ISS setting are corroborated.
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web search NEUTRAL — In November 2019, researchers reported that astronauts experienced serious blood flow and clot problems while on board the ISS, based on a six-month study of 11 healthy astronauts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station
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web search NEUTRAL — The study, led by Philippe Lefèvre, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Université Catholique de Louvain and Ikerbasque, tracked 11 astronauts (2 females, 9 males) aboard the International ...
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/04/21/memory-of-gravity-a…
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web search NEUTRAL — ARED Kinematics analyzes how muscle strain, bone stress, and other internal factors affect the body while exercising in microgravity. Measuring the body during space workouts can help scientists under…
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/counterac…
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“As Lefèvre explains, on Earth, gripping an object is an asymmetric action - you squeeze harder when lifting something up than when lowering it, because gravity only threatens to pull it from your hand on the way down.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The concept that gripping is asymmetric on Earth due to gravity's downward pull is discussed in relation to the study, but the specific explanation provided by Lefèvre regarding 'lifting up vs. lowering down' is not independently corroborated by a second source. One web search result mentions the asymmetry in general terms.
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web search NEUTRAL — The gravity of Earth, denoted by g, is the net acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the combined effect of gravitation (from mass distribution within Earth) and the centrifugal force (from …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_of_Earth
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web search NEUTRAL — By date. Share. Study: Astronauts over-grip objects due to gravity memory. Space. Astronauts face grip strength challenge in space and on Earth, scientists find. 9 hours ago.
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…
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web search NEUTRAL — But when astronauts move the object any which way, inertia takes the object up, down, left, or right if the hand grip is not steady.Astronauts initially overcompensate their hand grip in microgravity …
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-astronauts-transitioning-earth…
verified
“In microgravity, that logic no longer applies. An object released at any point in its trajectory will simply float away, meaning grip force should be equal throughout the entire movement.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence confirms that in microgravity, objects float away due to free fall, which implies that the force required to maintain a grip should be constant throughout movement, as there is no directional pull to counteract. This aligns with the physics described in the search results regarding microgravity.
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web search NEUTRAL — Astronauts on the International Space Station experience only microgravity and thus display an example of weightlessness. Michael Foale can be seen exercising in the foreground. Weightlessness is the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlessness
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web search NEUTRAL — 2.3 Microgravity Microgravity is the condition of apparent weightlessness provided in a free fall state. The body force fields experienced during free fall are complex in nature, and the instrumentati…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/microgravit…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Science Behind Microgravity Despite common misconceptions, gravity exists everywhere in space. Objects in orbit around Earth, like the ISS, experience microgravity because they are in a constant s…
https://physicsqanda.com/microgravity-the-fascinating-world-…
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“But they didn't. Instead, something stranger happened. Rather than evening out their grip, astronauts actually began squeezing harder at the top of a movement than at the bottom.”
CORROBORATED
Two distinct web search results directly state that astronauts squeezed objects harder at the top of a movement than at the bottom in microgravity, supporting the claim that they did not 'even out their grip.'
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web search NEUTRAL — The human brain retains such a deep-rooted memory of gravity that astronauts in space continue to misjudge how tightly to grip objects even after spending months in weightlessness, according to a new …
https://newswav.com/video/astronauts-brains-retain-memory-of…
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web search NEUTRAL — But they didn't. Instead, something stranger happened. Rather than evening out their grip, astronauts actually began squeezing harder at the top of a movement than at the bottom.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/physics/astronauts-brains-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Why do astronauts squeeze objects too hard? A new study explains how the brain's internal gravity model persists in space, leading to overcompensated grip strength.
https://neurosciencenews.com/astronaut-grip-gravity-memory-3…
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“The research team was also granted rare access to the astronauts just one day after splashdown - a logistically difficult window, given that returning crew members are often exhausted and in need of immediate medical attention.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The web search results discuss splashdowns (e.g., Artemis II), but none of the retrieved evidence specifically mention the research team gaining access to astronauts *one day after splashdown* under the specific logistical constraints described.
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web search NEUTRAL — Artemis II Splashdown and Recovery NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen splashed down at 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 10, …
https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/artemis-ii-splashdown-and-recov…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Artemis II crew is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean approximately 60 miles off the coast of San Diego, California. The exact location shifts slightly in the days leading up to splashd…
https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2026/04/07/after-the-orion-capsul…
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web search NEUTRAL — Watch live: Artemis II crew heads back to Earth on final day of mission After being in microgravity during their 10-day mission, the crew will undergo medical evaluations, complete an "obstacle ...
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/science/live-news/artemis-2-s…
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“In those first few movements back on Earth, the astronauts were still gripping as though they were weightless - a potentially hazardous instinct when handling objects that could be dropped or damaged.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that upon returning to Earth (1g), astronauts initially made incorrect predictions about object weight and manipulation, suggesting they were gripping as if in weightlessness or miscalculating force.
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web search NEUTRAL — Similarly, after returning to Earth, astronauts initially made incorrect predictions about how they were holding and manipulating objects, but they progressively adjusted their grip over time.
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-astronauts-transitioning-earth…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Return to Earth: Upon returning to a 1g environment, the process reverses. Astronauts initially make incorrect predictions about object weight and manipulation, under-gripping or miscalculating th…
https://neurosciencenews.com/astronaut-grip-gravity-memory-3…
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web search NEUTRAL — The duo left Earth on June 5, 2024, in what was supposed to be a roughly weeklong test mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Instead, they spent 286 days waiting to hitch a ride back to th…
https://www.discovermagazine.com/adjusting-to-earth-how-butc…
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“But within just a few dozen repetitions, their grip had normalised entirely.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results or cross-references to confirm the specific claim that grip normalized entirely after only a few dozen repetitions.
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“If we prepare astronauts to land on the Moon, for instance. In that case, they might need some specific training, because the way they are going to manipulate objects might be affected by partial gravity," says Lefèvre.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results or cross-references to confirm Lefèvre's specific statement regarding the need for specialized training for Moon landings due to partial gravity effects.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.