NEEMO, the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations program, is testing Glass and similar devices to stay current on scheduled tasks, which they say would be easier than checking the computer.
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The astronauts tried out Glass at NASA’s Aquarius habitat on the seafloor off the coast of Florida; the underwater setting provides a close analog to conditions in space.
"I haven't been in space, but my understanding — I've worked in the Mission Control team and watched the crew members in space try to keep up with the timelines there == and I always wondered what it would be like being on the other side," said astronaut Mark Vande Hei. "This definitely gave me a good sense of it."
It’s not yet clear whether it would be easy to use Glass in such an environment.
In a NEEMO report from earlier this year, astronauts found that the small screen required a great deal of scrolling and was uncomfortable to read in the corner of their vision.
Further testing could take place during NEEMO’s next mission, which is slated for September.
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