Full Description
This book is a winner of International Academy of Astronautics 2023 Life Science Book Award.
This textbook covers the range of psychological and interpersonal issues that can affect astronauts living and working in space. It deals with the three major risk areas cited by NASA's Behavioral Health and Performance Element: Behavioral Medicine, Team Risk, and Sleep Risk.
Based on the author's more than 50 years of experience in space-related activities writing, conducting research, and teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, the book follows a comprehensive range of topics that include: cognitive effects; psychiatric issues; cultural influences; salutogenic and positive aspects of space travel; autonomy and delayed communication; current plans to return to the Moon and Mars; analysis of study environments such as the polar regions, submersible habitats, and space simulation facilities; and more. It draws on research, literature, and case studies from the 1950s onward, showing readers in a natural and accessible way how the field has progressed over time.
The book contains ample end-of-chapter summaries and exercises as well as a complete glossary of key terms. As such, it will serve students taking courses in aerospace psychology, psychiatry, sociology, human factors, medicine, and related social sciences, in addition to space industry professionals and others interested in the complexities of people living and working in space.
Contents
Chapter 1. Stress, Sleep, and Cognition in Microgravity.- Chapter 2. Living and Working in Space.- Chapter 3. Emotional Highs and Lows.- Chapter 4. Crewmember Selection, Ground and Family Support.- Chapter 5. Human Interactions, Culture, and Team Behavior.- Chapter 6. Countermeasures for Near-Earth Space Missions.- Chapter 7. Commercial Human Spaceflight.- Chapter 8. Artemis and the Psychosociology of Lunar Colonies.- Chapter 9. Expeditions to Mars and Beyond.- Chapter 10. Appendix. Introductory quotations and conclusions from NASA TM X-58067 (1971): Behavioral, Psychiatric, and Sociological Problems of Long-Duration Space Missions (N.A. Kanas & William E. Fedderson).
