Objectives
During future space missions involving a space station or a trip to Mars, international crews will be engaged in complicated activities over long periods of time. A number of interpersonal issues likely to impact these missions must be addressed in order to ensure healthy crewmember interactions and optimal performance. The objectives of this study were to measure and characterize changes over time in a number of important interpersonal factors, such as tension, cohesion, leadership role, and the relationship between space crews and monitoring personnel on Earth.
The formal hypotheses dealt with a number of aspects related to crew and ground control tension, cohesion, and leadership role. It was expected that over the course of long-term space missions, tension in the crew environment and crew cohesiveness would change. There would be an association between the level of tension in the crewmembers and their relationship with people on the ground, and between tension in mission control personnel and their relationship with management. Also, the perception of leader role and outside monitor support would change over time.
Shuttle-Mir Missions Approach
The subjects used a confidential ID code that they selected for themselves and did not divulge to anyone, including the investigators. The on-orbit subjects completed a computerized questionnaire and saved their data to a hard drive and optical disk, which was then transferred to Earth on either the Shuttle or Soyuz (Mir-25). Ground-control subjects primarily used the hardcopy format and their questionnaires were stored in a locking attaché case. Once a month the data collection coordinator and the Russian co-investigator made backup copies of the questionnaires and shipped the originals to the principal investigator in the United States.
Results
When the complete data set has been collected, researchers will be able to randomize the order of missions and present the findings in terms of group averages that will protect the identity of individual subjects. Consequently, no final results can be presented at this time that are related to the hypotheses.
Earth Benefits Publications
Gushin VI, Zaprisa N, Kolinitchenko TB, Efimov VA, Smirnova TM, Vinokhodova AG. The dynamics of communicative interaction of crew with external parties during long-term isolation. Aerospace Ecological Med 1997;(4):15-20.
Gushin VI, Zaprisa NS, Kolinitchenko TB, Efimov VA, Smirnova TM, Vinokhodova AG, Kanas N. Content analysis of the crew communication with external communicants under prolonged isolation. Aviat Space Environ Med 1997;(68)12:1093-1098.
Kanas N. Groups in isolation: relevance to group therapy. Proceedings of the American Group Psychotherapy Association Annual Meeting; 1996 Feb 13-17; San Francisco (CA).
Kanas N. Social and cultural factors affecting crews on long-duration space missions. Proceedings of the Life Sciences and Space Medicine Conference and Exhibition `96, NASA/American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; 1996 Mar 5-7; Houston (TX).
Kanas N. Psychosocial pressures affecting people in space. Proceedings of the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting; 1996 May 4-9; New York (NY).
Kanas N, Weiss DS, Marmar CM. Crewmember interactions during a Mir Space Station simulation. Aviat Space Environ Med 1996;(67):969-975.
Salinas G, Kanas N, Charles J, Baker E. Life sciences operations in space: Issues and impacts. Presented at the Life Sciences and Space Medicine Conference and Exhibition `96, NASA/American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; 1996 Mar 5-7; Houston (TX).
Kanas N. Psychological issues affecting crews during long-duration international space missions. Proceedings of the 12th man in Space Symposium; 1997 Jun 8-13; Washington, D.C.
Kanas N. Crewmember and crew-ground interactions. Proceedings of the Phase 1 Research Program Interim Results Symposium, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center; 1997; Houston (TX).
Kanas N. Psychosocial findings from recent space simulation studies. (Abstract) Aviat Space Environ Med 1997;(68)7:640.
Kanas N. Psychosocial issues affecting Astronauts and Cosmonauts in space. (Abstract) Aviat Space Environ Med 1997;(68)10:964.
Kanas N. Psychosocial issues affecting crews during long-duration international space missions. Proceedings of the 12th Man in Space Symposium; 1997; Washington, D.C.
Kanas N. Psychiatric issues affecting long-duration space missions. Aviat Space Environ Med 1998;(69)12:1211-1216.
Kanas N. Psychosocial issues affecting crews during long-duration international space missions. Acta Astronaut 1998;(42):339-361.
Kanas N. Psychosocial support for Astronauts. (Abstract) Aviat Space Environ Med 1997;(68)10:964.
Kanas N, Weiss DW, Marmar CM, Grund EM. Applicability of simulation studies to psychosocial issues in space. (Abstract) Aviat Space Environ Med 1997;(68)7:640.
Kanas N. Psychosocial value of analog studies for long-duration space missions: overview. Proceedings of the Aerospace Medical Association Annual Meeting; 1998 May; Seattle (WA).
Kanas N. Psychosocial value of space simulation for extended space flight. Adv Space Biol Med 1998;(68):81-91.
Kozerenko OP, Sled AD, and Salnitskiy VP. Psychological support: Russian experience. (Abstract) Aviat Space Environ Med 1997;(68)10:964.
Principal Investigators
Vyacheslav Salnitskiy, Ph.D. Co-Investigators
NASA-3 - NASA-7
American and Russian crewmembers and personnel in ground control were asked to volunteer to take part in this study. Data were collected before, during and after each flight using either the computerized or hardcopy version of a psychological questionnaire. The experiment questionnaire was a composite of three standardized, well-known mood and interpersonal group climate questionnaires: Profile of Mood States, Group Environment Scale, and Work Environment Scale. In addition, each subject completed a log book that documented the occurrence of important events. Subjects completed the questionnaires four times before the flight, on a weekly basis during the flight and twice after flight. The entire questionnaire took approximately 15-20 minutes to answer.
In order to protect subject confidentiality and to enhance the chances of obtaining open, honest responses, the US and Russian investigators agreed to delay performing hypothesis-driven data analyses until all five missions were completed and all of the data had been received. As of December 1998, data had been collected from all but four subjects. The number of subjects who participated included: 6 astronauts, 11 cosmonauts, and 41 US and 18 Russian mission control personnel. Eighty percent of the expected data has been received. Missing data resulted from sporadic failures to remind subjects to complete the questionnaires and from dockings and other busy periods where subjects did not have time to perform a number of scientific activities.
The interpersonal interactions of long-duration, multi-national space crews constitute a laboratory of small group behavior that tells us a great deal about ways in which groups of people on Earth relate when they are under stress. In addition, the ability of people from previously opposing political blocks to engage in complex activities, such as undertaking a space mission, serves as a model for international cooperation on Earth. Thus, this research project will teach us a great deal about ourselves and our ability to relate with one another despite cultural and political barriers.
Gushin VI, Efimov VA, Smirnova TM, Vinokhodova AG, Kanas N. Subject's perceptions of the crew interaction dynamics under prolonged isolation. Aviat Space Environ Med 1998;(69)6:556-561.
Nick Kanas, M.D.
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Institute of Biomedical Problems
Charles Marmar, M.D.
Daniel Weiss, Ph.D.
Olga Kozerenko, M.D.
Alaxandr Sled
Vadim Gushin, M.D.
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Curator:
Kim Dismukes
Responsible NASA Official: John Uri |
Page last updated: 07/14/1999
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