Astronauts have ventured into space for 61 years to unlock human exploration potential.
But the floating freedom offered by the lack of gravity also presents a number of limits to the human body and mind.
Short space travel since the first Mercury and Apollo missions have become six-month or longer stays aboard the International Space Station. The floating lab has served as an ideal backdrop for scientists trying to understand what really happens to all aspects of the human body in the space environment: radiation, lack of gravity, and everything.
Many of these effects have been well documented over time, especially during the 2019 Twin Study, which compared the changes Scott Kelly experienced after nearly a year in space with those of his twin brother. Mark, who remained on Earth.
Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine partnered with NASA in this research, and he and Scott Kelly spoke about these findings at the 2022 Life Itself conference, a health and wellness event presented in collaboration with CNN.
“What did you miss most about the Earth when you were out for a year?” Mason asked Kelly.
“The weather, of course. The rain, the sun, the wind,” Kelly said. “And then I miss people … who are important to you, you know, your family, your friends.”
As NASA plans to return humans to the moon and eventually land on Mars through the Artemis program, there is a growing interest in understanding what effects a long-term journey through deep space could have.
A big question some scientists have asked is whether humans are mentally and emotionally prepared for such a big leap. In short, how do we handle it?
REVELATING RESEARCH
A 2021 study made participants live for almost two months in simulated weightlessness resting on a special bed with their head tilted down at a 6-degree angle. The tilt creates a shift toward the body fluids experienced by astronauts in the absence of gravity.
Participants were regularly asked to complete cognitive tests designed for astronauts, related to memory, risk-taking, emotion recognition, and spatial orientation.
The researchers wanted to test whether experiencing artificial gravity for 30 minutes a day, either all at once or in five-minute sessions, could prevent adverse effects. Although study participants experienced initial cognitive impairment on their tests, it was matched and did not persist for 60 days.
But the speed with which they recognized the emotions worsened overall. During testing, they were more likely to see facial expressions as angry, rather than happy or neutral.
“Astronauts on long space missions, much like our research participants, will spend long periods in microgravity, confined to a small space with few other astronauts,” said study author Mathias Basner, a professor in the Department of University of Pennsylvania Perelman Psychiatry. Faculty of Medicine.
“The ability of astronauts to” read “the emotional expressions of others correctly will be of great importance to effective teamwork and mission success. Our results suggest that their ability to do so may be affected by the weather”.
In the study, it was unclear whether this deterioration was due to the simulated lack of gravity or the confinement and isolation experienced by participants for 60 days.
A separate 2021 study, published in Acta Astronautica, developed a mental health checklist based on the stressors astronauts face, which are also shared by those who spend months at the astronaut’s research stations. ‘Antarctica.
These two extreme environments, space and the edge of the world, create a lack of privacy, altered cycles of light and darkness, confinement, isolation, monotony, and prolonged separation from family and friends.
University of Houston psychology professor Candice Alfano and her team designed the checklist as a self-report method to keep track of these changes in mental health. The biggest change that people reported in the two stations of Antarctica was a decrease in positive emotions from the beginning to the end of their nine-month stay with no “rebound” effect even as they prepared. to return home.
Participants also used less effective strategies to increase positive emotions.
“Interventions and countermeasures to improve positive emotions can therefore be critical to reducing psychological risk in extreme settings,” Alfano said.
PROTECT EXPLORERS AWAY FROM HOME
Helping astronauts maintain their mental acuity and well-being as they venture away from home is a key goal of NASA’s Human Research Program. In the past, the program has developed countermeasures to help astronauts combat muscle and bone loss, such as daily workouts at the space station.
Researchers are actively investigating the idea of how meaningful work can bring mission crews together. When astronauts work as a team, either on the space station or in a simulated environment from Mars to Earth, their collaboration is toward a common goal.
And once the work is done, they can spend time together watching movies or enjoying recreational activities to combat feelings of isolation.
However, a mission to Mars, which could take months or years depending on the design of the spacecraft, could cause feelings of monotony and confinement. And frequent contact with Mission Control and their loved ones on Earth will be further disrupted as they move away from Earth.
“We need to make sure we have some kind of individualized protocols and stuff for the crew,” Alexandra Whitmire, an element scientist in the Human Research Program, said during a 2021 interview on CNN. “It’s very important for us to understand those people who will be on this mission.”
While some crew members may express excitement and satisfaction by working on science experiments, others may have to play with other tasks. Previous research has already identified key features that may be needed in deep space explorers, such as self-sufficiency and problem solving.
An amazing discovery on the space station is how food, and the cultivation of crops, helps to improve the morale of the crew while maintaining a very important tangible connection with the home.
No wonder space foods need to be a safe and stable supply of nutrition and still taste good. But actively growing vegetables has been a rewarding and tasty experience for previous space station crews.
Astronauts have reported how satisfying it was to take care of the green leafy plants, radishes and Hatch peppers and see how the plants bloom, finally producing an edible reward.
Scientists in the Human Research Program have questioned whether this sense of accomplishment can be taken a step further. When astronauts like Scott Kelly or Christina Koch returned to Earth after long spaceflights, they talked about how they couldn’t wait to hear the rain or the ocean waves again.
Guided imagery and virtual reality capabilities may be a necessary part of deep space flights in the future to remind astronauts of their sensory connection to “blue marble,” even when reduced to sight.