Useful Links to Research Astronaut Psychology

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/

This site contains transcripts and audio of in-flight correspondence between Mission Control and the Shuttles, as well as video and animations.

http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/5_cool/5_mir/mir1.html

This page contains an article exploring several different astronauts reactions to living aboard the Mir and the ways it has affected them or differed from home life. 

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-483/contents.htm

This contains Living Aloft by Mary M Connors, a work of research exploring a variety of psychological symptoms and situations relating to space and isolation.

Communication with Mission Control

As mentioned in a previous post, I have attended my fair share of overnight camps and trips. While some feel like a home away from home, others make you feel estranged and isolated. I remember attending a Texas History trip with my 7th grade class in which I ended up in group and with roommates whom I did not know very well. Because my calls to home felt like my only connection to the outside world, to situations where I was comfortable, I found myself emotionally stockpiling in every other instance and releasing my joys, frustrations, hopes, and fears on my family. I would find myself talking to them with bitterness and disdain, even though they were only there to support me. 

The same situation seems to manifest itself in relations between astronauts and mission control. While often the communications brought nothing but joy and relief to those in space, other times Mission Control will receive the brunt of pent up frustration among the astronauts who are to afraid of conflict with one another to express it easily. 

Loneliness in Space

When I began looking into this topic in my research about the psychological component to a mission, I immediately thought back to all the times I've gone to overnight camps in the summer. I would never be gone for more than a week, but somehow even on my roughest day, whether it was getting stung by a wasp, sunburning to a crisp apple red, being chosen last for a team, my lip swelling up from an ant bite, or having my bag raided by a raccoon, a letter from home seemed to make everything right. Even among endless lists of fun activities and the beautiful outdoors, if I didn't have a good friend with me it could be devastatingly lonely. How much more alone must the brave men and women who venture into the literal unknown feel? 

Like my parents did with me, writing letters and communicating frequently seem to be the only ways to allay the pains of homesickness. Here is an excerpt from an interview with astronaut John Blaha about awaiting the docking of a vessel while on his stay on the Mir aboard the ISS:

"Twenty-four hours after undocking the old Progress vessel, Blaha watched through a window as the new Progress approached Mir. 

"It was a shining star rising towards us at great speed from beneath the horizon. This was an incredible sight. There we were approaching the terminator on planet Earth, and this 'beaming' shining star was roaring towards us." 

When Progress finally docked with Mir and the hatch could be opened, the crew was scheduled to go to bed a half-hour later. "Of course, we stayed up a few extra minutes as we searched for our crew packages," Blaha wrote. "Once we found our packages, it was like Christmas and your birthday all rolled together when you were five years old. We really had a lot of fun reading mail, laughing, opening presents, eating fresh tomatoes, cheese, etc. It was an experience I will always remember." "

Scientific American Frontiers Presents From Mir to Mars

"What Is It Like to Live Aboard Mir?"

Territoriality Among Coworkers on Missions

Being the middle child of three daughters, I have experienced my fair share of fighting for what ought to belong to me. It's not that I don't love my sisters, but it is easy to feel neglected and under-appreciated when siblings continually borrow your things without permission. 

This only scratches the surface of what astronauts must deal with. Imagine spending several months with the same two or three people, living in tight, cramped quarters with limited things to do to relieve stress and boredom. This is definitely not the same as fighting over a hairbrush.

Here is an excerpt from 'Living Aloft' by Mary M. Connors concerning territorialty:

 

"Several studies refer to the "territoriality" of confined individuals in describing their privacy seeking behavior. However, true territoriality is less obvious in the human than in other species. Sundstrom and Altman (1974) observe that most animals show highly stereotypic territorial behavior, whereas humans show considerable territorial flexibility. These authors conclude that the human [90] territorial response is probably learned and may be just one of many techniques for achieving privacy.

In only a few cases has the specific need to control particular spaces been identified in confinement. In the University of California, Berkeley, "Penthouse" studies, it was reported that subjects staked out territories for their own personal use and became hostile when others violated these rights (Cowan and Strickland, 1965). Several Russian confinement experiences also have concluded that there is a specific need for personal space (Leonov and Lebedev, 1975, p. 86), and in the submarine experience, the lack of personal space was identified as a cause of stress (Earls, 1969). Yet even in these examples it is not clear whether the felt need was for separate space per se, or for control over interactions with others. Further evidence of the chameleon quality of the territorial need in humans comes from studies of Esser and his colleagues (Esser, 1973; Esser, Chamberlain, Chapple, and Kline, 1964). These researchers found that in confined settings with only a few desirable areas, the more dominant confinees exhibited territorial behavior, claiming for themselves the preferred spaces. However, in a uniform setting, the more dominant members did not act in a territorial manner, but rather moved freely throughout all the available space.

In a recent experiment, Rogers (1978) offered confined subjects an opportunity to purchase specific amenities, inluding extra space which could be turned to personal use. He found that although extra space was sometimes purchased, this space was added to the public area and was not used as individual space.

The evidence, then, suggests that for the human, personal and exclusive use of an area is probably less important than the privacy requirement which such space would address. This finding allows us to search for solutions to the privacy problem in space which do not depend on the personal allocation of territories within the habitat."