Lamp, Fundus Camera, Kowa, Space Shuttle

This lamp used with the opthamalotical Fundus camera for experiments aboard the Space Shuttle in the early 1990s. Researchers and physicians use them to magnify and image the back of the eye by flashing light directly into the eye, and astronauts used this Kowa brand camera to observe retinal blood vessels and the optic nerve in weightlessness. Eye movement in response to body motion and other stimuli is a salient factor in the study of space motion sickness and adaptation to microgravity.

NASA transferred this camera to the Museum in 2005 after it was no longer needed for missions in space.