Mental health is a key part of human survival. The need to have a clear mind on the mission and the resiliency to push through the challenges of being in space is one of the many criteria that astronauts need to have to be successful. Some aspects of psychology that are being affected and studied are “subjective ratings of mood, psychological distress, health, stress, fatigue, sleep quality, and workload, on changes in behavior and psychological state with time in mission” (Basner, Dinges, Mollicone, Savelev, Ecker, Di Antonio, Jones, Hyder, Kan, Morukov, & Sutton, 2014). In this research, Basner et al. (2014), have discovered that the average sleep time increases over time in isolation along with depressive symptoms and psychological distress (p. 5, para. 6). Some astronauts can suffer from desynchronosis, more commonly known as jet lag, due to circling of earth multiple times in a 24-hour period creating over fifteen sunrises and sunsets disrupting the internal clocks of the human body (Connors, Harrison, & Akins, 1986). Connors, Harrison, and Akins’ research shows that these psychological effects are some “of the challenges in helping individuals adjust to life in space is to identify those zeitgebers or time cues that can help to establish acceptable biorhythms in the space environment” (p. 907, para. 6). Space is inherently a dangerous place and the astronauts might have to deal with life threating situations, possible bad news from …show more content…
Learning to deal and work with the different personalities around you takes patience and active work from everyone involved. This team building is critical to the success in space missions. Pre-mission training is required to prepare everyone for the mental and physical endeavor up ahead. A study found that conflicts between the crew and mission control were more than five times as often as conflicts between themselves, therefore, pre-mission training would need to require involvement with the mission controllers to create one cohesive team instead of two divided my hundreds of thousands of miles in space (Basner et al., 2014, p. 8, para. 1). Another social aspect that is impacted my space travel is the feeling of loneliness. Although not physically alone, astronauts experience loneliness because of the distance from their friends and family. In fact, “loneliness and longing for home are also regularly reported in confinement, particularly when the stay is prolonged. One indication of loneliness observed in space is the time spent talking with the folks back home. This activity has been found to lengthen as the mission wears on” (Connors, Harrison, & Akins, 1986, p. 909, para. 4). This need to call home and connect with their loved ones makes an example that although far away with other people, we still need that sense of belonging in a much more deeper level. Only our family and closest friends is