Description
Book SynopsisThis 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.
Trade Review“For students of aerospace psychiatry, medicine, and psychology, and for other people working in the aerospace industry or the general public, this work amply reviews the field and provides a broad, rich wealth of information in a scholarly fashion. Dr. Kanas’s book is a cogent, practical textbook that focuses on the most fragile element of human space exploration: the human element. I highly recommend this book … .” (Charles H. Dukes, Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, Vol. 94 (8), August, 2023)
“This book … is really the guidelines or criteria of healthy behavior for human space travel, either non-commercial or commercial. Writing to be a textbook, the contents are considered to be more than rich, sufficient and exhaustive. More importantly, the book guides students and readers from shallow to deep with the in-depth academic theory as basics and the easy understandable features as phenomena. … Throughout the book, there are enormous amount of statistical data, figures … .” (Acta Astronautica, June 1, 2023)
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION (Stressors in Space; Sources of Information: Anecdotes, Simulations and Analogs, Space Missions; Critical Thinking and the Scientific Method; Public vs Private Space Missions; Orientation to Book)
SECTION I: BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Chapter 1: Sleep, Cognition, and Performance
Chapter 2: Psychological Issues
Chapter 3: Positive Effects of Space
Chapter 4: Psychiatric Issues
SECTION II: HUMAN INTERACTIONS
Chapter 5: Interpersonal Issues
Chapter 6: Teamwork and Cohesion
Chapter 7: Culture and Language
Chapter 8: Countermeasures for Space Crews
SECTION III: THE FUTURE
Chapter 9: Space Tourism
Chapter 10: Back to the Moon
Chapter 11: Mission to Mars
Chapter 12: Interplanetary and Interstellar Missions
APPENDICES
- Answers to Exercises and Questions
- ??
GLOSSARY
INDEX
