How NASA cares about the safety and intelligence of its astronauts

Not everyone can withstand the harsh environment of interplanetary travel

The astronaut is one of the most dangerous, stressful professions with high stakes on our planet (and beyond). In isolation, limited space and extremeness it can be compared, perhaps, with the work of polar explorers and military submarine teams. Of course, the latter rarely have to deal with the effects of radiation, a change in gravity, or the prospect of flying into an airlock.



In this regard, NASA has worked for decades to ensure that when it sends teams out of the atmosphere, their members have the talents and training necessary to complete their tasks and return home safely. And now, when we begin to try on Mars - and a two-way trip lasting more than two years - NASA faces an unprecedented challenge in this area.



Even in relatively small time periods while on the ISS, astronauts face many problems, and factors appear that can exhaust them physically and emotionally. Among them: possible personal and cultural conflicts, communication problems with foreign team members, the monotony and boredom of daily station maintenance, physiological changes in the body due to microgravity and isolation, anxiety about the effects of radiation and circadian rhythm disturbances. Astronauts on the ISS, in fact, were stuck in a small bubble of the inhabited atmosphere with five other people for six or more months. This is enough to drive a little crazy anyone except the most psychologically persistent.







According to a NASA study, American astronauts faced 1800 medical incidents during 89 shuttle missions completed from 1981 to 1998. Less than 2% of them were due to problems with behavior, and among them the most frequent complaints were “anxiety and irritation”. And vice versa, the cosmic adaptation syndrome , during which astronauts suffer from seasickness, headache and numbness of the face, until they get used to living in microgravity, is responsible for 40% of medical problems that occurred during the same period.



At the same time, it cannot be said that astronauts do not have periodic nervous breakdowns. The Soyuz 21 mission had to be interrupted in 1976 when the team noticed a strong smell in the capsule. The source of the smell was never found, and the whole incident was attributed to a massive hallucination caused by stress. In 1989, shuttle commander David Walker, who recently returned from his first mission and was undergoing a difficult divorce, conducted a T-38 jet 30 meters from the Pan American passenger flight. Although NASA did not admit that the stress caused by the past mission was one of the reasons for the catastrophe that almost happened, the agency nevertheless removed Walker from command and forbade him to fly until 1992.



Later, in 2007, astronaut Lisa Novak drove one and a half thousand kilometers across the country without stopping, taking with her a diaper for an adult, an air gun, a croquet mallet and a knife to attack an opponent whom she suspected of having an affair with her lover at Orlando Airport . After she unsuccessfully tried to water her enemy out of a pepper spray, Novak was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Her team of lawyers claimed she was insane and presented with a diagnosis according to which Novak suffered a brief psychological breakdown and serious depression, returning from the recently completed Discovery mission.





“Unsystematic and empirical evidence suggests that the likelihood of adverse changes in cognitive and behavioral functions or psychiatric problems seriously increases with the duration of the mission,” the NASA Human Research Program concluded , which examined the psychological health of astronauts. “In addition, although cognitive, behavioral, or psychiatric problems may not directly threaten the success of the mission, these problems can and often worsen the health of individuals and the whole team, as well as their well-being and effectiveness.”



The first line of defense in the agency against such problems is a serious selection of candidates. Many of them come from high stress professions such as a fighter pilot or doctor; essentially dangerous high-stakes professions where the wrong decision can prove fatal. The ability to suppress fear and anxiety to overcome a problem is of utmost importance. Astronauts "already know that they can face serious problems," Dr. Jim Picano, NASA chief operating psychologist told Astronaut magazine in January, "and they believe they can handle them."



A strict training regimen helps smooth out the doubts that candidates have. “The training that the astronauts go through forms their confidence in the procedures and equipment they have, in the ability to cope with the execution of flight programs, as well as with emergency situations,” he continued. “The rehearsal of these occasions fosters a sense of preparedness over and over, allowing them to believe that they can affect the environment and improve it.”



Of course, you can’t leave alone in self-confidence in the selection process. Out of 18,000 applicants, as a result, about 60 people will approve the flight into space. NASA evaluates candidates for nine separate “ appropriate skills ”:

1. Ability to work under stressful conditions.
2. Skill of group existence.
3. Teamwork skill.
4. Possession of emotions and mood.
5. Motivation.
6. Reasoning and decision making.
7. Good faith.
8. Communication skills.
9. Leadership skills.

And this is just the beginning. During the selection process, candidates are subjected to hours of psychiatric tests to ensure that they have “the right material” for the right missions. After passing the test, astronauts have to go through many additional sets of tests of psychological assessment in preparation for the flight, during the mission and upon return. On board the ISS, teams participate in psychological conferences with ground-based doctors.



In addition, NASA spends a lot of effort to keep astronauts in contact with the ISS with their friends, relatives and the public in order to withstand the enormous psychological stresses they go through. NASA provides astronauts with the ISS access to social networks, satellite phones and video calls so that they can chat with their families, download videos and not miss the latest series of TV shows, and also regularly sends packages from Earth. Astronauts are also encouraged to do hobbies while on board, whether it be photography, reading, or, as in the case of Commander Chris Headfield, recording a guitar album in microgravity.





NASA is also looking for less intrusive ways to track the astronaut’s mental health in space. “NASA-funded research is experimenting with visual recognition technology,” said Dr. Lawrence Palinkas, a professor of social policy and healthcare at the University of Southern California. The same technology that law enforcement agencies use to track and identify people can potentially be used to track the psychological state of team members. “If there are abnormalities or deviations, the psychologist will be armed with more detailed information that will adequately respond to the situation,” he said.



And, nevertheless, Mars is located 56 million km from Earth, even at the points of closest convergence. A round trip will take at least two and a half years. “Mars is very far from us, and extreme distances have complex psychological consequences,” said Nick Kanas, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco in an interview with the American Psychological Association in 2018. “In such circumstances, it will be difficult to get the social we need novelty. " Given the scale of the mission, space agencies of various countries will participate in it, and most likely they will send their own cosmonauts there.



Phyllis Johnson, an associate professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia, recently investigated the effects of such dangerous remote jobs on family members who remain at home. “We are watching how astronauts create an international space culture, and whether they do,” she said. - Or they will remain separate copies of “their own” culture. That is, first of all, by Americans, Canadians, Germans, or representatives of the corresponding space agencies. ”



“Do they create something that embraces all this at once,” she continued, “and do they see in this process a reconstruction of some traditions - how it is customary to do something in a team - that the next groups will continue.”



And this community will be vital, because the farther they are from Earth, the more communication delays will become. When they get closer to Mars, the signal from Earth will take 20 minutes to reach them. Together with the same in duration by way of the signal back and the time to record the response, a delay of at least 40 minutes will be obtained. This will make telephone-style communication impossible.



“Undoubtedly, it will be necessary to define protocols that describe communications in such conditions,” said Palinkas, “and how questions and answers will be connected to each other to minimize interruptions in the usual course of conversation.”



NASA does not plan to send a team to the Red Planet for the next ten years, because there are still so many opportunities for exploring and using the riches of the Moon. This should give the agency enough time to further refine the technology and flight systems needed to support the life of astronauts, and, more importantly, their well-being during their dangerous journey.