Review: Psychology of Space Exploration

by Jeff Foust
Monday, October 10, 2011

Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective
by Douglas A. Vakoch (editor)
NASA, 2011
hardcover, 264 pp., illus.
ISBN 978-0-16-088358-3
US$27.00

For much of the history of spaceflight, there’s been a greater focus on hard science and technical issues than some of the “softer” issues that come with humans going into space and working with each other there. While there was considerable concern regarding, and study of, the physiological effects of spaceflight, there was less attention paid to psychological issues: after all, in the early days of spaceflight astronauts were all highly motivated test pilots who famously had the Right Stuff. That was an overly simplistic view then, and even more so today, as a far more diverse group of spacefarers—of differing nationalities, genders, and backgrounds—spend extended time in space.

In Psychology of Space Exploration, researchers in the field of space psychology take a look at both the history of the topic as well as some contemporary research in the field. As Albert Harrison and Edna Fiedler note in the book’s introductory chapter, the application of psychology to spaceflight has been “running 20 to 30 years behind most areas of medicine”, with a long gap of in-flight experiments after John Glenn’s historic orbital flight in 1962. They don’t go into details about why that was the case, beyond “formidable organizational barriers to psychology” within NASA, apparently as the agency focused more on the challenges of getting men into space and back safely, and less on behavioral issues while in space.

As the population of astronauts has become more diverse—scientists and pilots; women and men; Americans, Russians, and others—and stays in space have grown from days to months, psychological research has become more prominent. Chapters of Psychology of Space Exploration examine research on some of those areas, including the potential for cultural clashes among multinational crews and the effect of gender on crew cohesion. One chapter examines an interesting experiment: putting six ordinary people into a simulated spacecraft for a two-day orbital flight to see how well space tourists might get along in close quarters. (The answer: apparently so well that the “tourists” exchanged phone numbers and addresses after their “flights” and attended a later reunion.)

The book (an electronic version of which is freely available from NASA) does get into considerable detail about some research, and there’s some jargon particular to the behavioral sciences. For example, one chapter title asks, “Is Earth Observation a Salutogenic Experience?” You’ll need to know that “salutogenic” refers to an increase in well-being. (The answer to that chapter’s question, by the way, is yes.) For those interested in issues of how humans get along with each other in space—a topic of increasing importance given plans for greater commercial human spaceflight and government plans for long-duration exploration missions—Psychology of Space Exploration offers an overview of the history of, and current state of research in, this field.

Jeff Foust (jeff@thespacereview.com) is the editor and publisher of The Space Review. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site and the Space Politics and NewSpace Journal weblogs. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone, and do not represent the official positions of any organization or company, including the Futron Corporation, the author’s employer.

Home