From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible.
On episode 427, Dr. Giuseppe Iaria discusses scientific results the Wayfinding investigation on space station and what it reveals about how astronauts navigate, adapt, and form mental maps in space. This episode was recorded in May 15, 2026.
Transcript
Leah Cheshier
Houston We Have a Podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center. This is episode 427: ISS Results: Wayfinding. I’m Leah Cheshier, and I’ll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts: scientists, engineers, and astronauts, all to let you know what’s going on in the world of human space flight and more.
Wayfinding is an intriguing human research investigation aboard the International Space Station. It explores how astronauts form mental maps, how their brains process spatial information in microgravity, and how living off the Earth changes the very structure of critical brain regions tied to navigation, memory, and orientation. These findings don’t just help us prepare for long duration missions, they tell us something profound about how the human brain adapts in extreme environments. Behind the scenes, teams across NASA and our international partners have been working for years to make this research possible, from designing cognitive assessments and MRI protocols to coordinating astronaut schedules, to developing tools that help us understand how spaceflight reshapes the brain. It’s a massive effort spanning multiple centers, disciplines, and expertise, all working toward one goal: understanding how humans thrive beyond Earth.
On this episode, we have Dr. Giuseppe Iaria, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Calgary, and principal investigator of the Wayfinding Experiment, to be our gui …