People talk a lot about comparing what astronauts feel in space with what floaters feel in the pool. Why? The reason lies in the sensation of weightlessness, which offers a person a completely new bodily experience. In truth it is a fairly different experience, yet floating on Earth comes closest to the sensations of a weightless state. The leading astronaut training centers run by NASA use floating pools precisely to acclimatize future astronauts to the specific sensations of a weightless environment.
What follows is a description of some differences between floating in space and floating in a pool:
Floating in space is actually free fall. Objects orbiting the Earth, including the International Space Station, are in constant free fall. But because they fall through an airless environment, there is no sound and no sensation of wind. You could conclude that the International Space Station, as it orbits the Earth, is falling freely into infinity.
In an effort to simulate this sensation, many try skydiving, and some methods of the space training program include free-fall training for astronauts in a controlled environment such as a wind tunnel. Some who have experienced weightlessness describe the sensation as endless falling, which can cause stress and discomfort, while others claim that you get used to the feeling, and once you orient yourself the sensation is not stressful.
Floating in space disorients a person. Similar effects also appear in a floating pool, since sensory deprivation makes sure the senses do not function normally.
Weightlessness can be very disturbing for many astronauts. Numerous astronauts report dizziness, nausea, and sometimes a feeling of panic, as their bodies tell them they are falling while their minds struggle to convince them to surrender to the situation. In rare floaters the exact same symptoms have appeared, but really only during their first experience.
Floating in a pool can of course only ever be a simulation of weightlessness, since the distribution of force in water still does not amount to zero force, but the body barely feels such a gentle and precisely distributed force. In space, of course, feeling such a force is impossible. Beyond this gentle force, when moving in the pool the body is also acted upon by the force of the water, which reminds us that we are on Earth.
If you want to learn more about floating in space, do some research and talk to experts or people employed in space programs. But if you want to experience the best approximation of weightlessness on Earth, consider floating with us at the SATORI floating center.