Paolo Nespoli on the tilt bed

Tilt bed is used for preparing for weightlessness, because in space the body liquids will be be distributed evenly in the body; on Earth the majority of the liquids are gathered in legs and lower parts of the body because of the gravity.

Paolo Nespoli, ESA's Italian astronaut, will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on 15 December for a long-duration mission called MagISStra and serve as flight engineer for Expeditions 26 and 27. This will be the third six-month mission by a European astronaut on the Station.