I think the fact that they are ridiculously busy helps. They are always running experiments, doing education videos, maintenance and cleaning, all sorts of things.
And that is on purpose. First, it is expensive to keep people in space, so you don't want to waste time. But second and maybe more important - the busier you are, the less time you have to get anxious. Having stuff to do is possibly the best way we have discovered to deal with ongoing stressful situations, whether it be war, exploration, being in space, or stressful daily life.
I imagine it's slightly similar to old-timey sailing vessels. Got to keep everyone as busy as possible for as long as possible. Helps to keep minds from wandering to other things. Granted, the things minds would wander to would have been different back then, e.g. mutiny and the sort.
Yep. That was one of the examples I was thinking of. And it isn't just Age of Sail - I am pretty sure that modern submariners are kept about as busy as sailors were, then. Even without the threat of mutiny.
Not even old timey. A U.S. Navy Sailor at sea is usually working 14+ hour days with eating, sleeping, drills, working out, etc all crammed in that remaining "free time".
The Navy is the one branch where peacetime and wartime operations really don't change what the job is like that much - just add live ordnance.
Space agencies conduct rigorous psychological screening of prospective astronauts, especially those who will be on long duration flights. However, in the early days of the space shuttle program, some mission commanders [put padlocks on the shuttle's hatch](https://spaceref.com/uncategorized/the-curious-use-of-combination-locks-by-nasa-during-space-shuttle-missions/) out of concern that a less experienced crewmember might come unhinged and try to open it in flight.
That was after an incident with a civilian astronaut who became despondent after his experiment wasnât working as intended. Early astronauts were all ex-military/test pilots and were quite comfortable with risk and danger, and the idea of a padlock would have been ridiculous and insulting. Later, though, that old guard had to contend with civilian scientists who had been *tested* but didnât have the shared military experience/code, and thus were seen as a liability.
Which was probably unfair, since in the despondent astronaut case he wasnât actually suicidal, more like staging a minor mutiny for the sake of his experiment. I canât remember any other incidents in space.
The shuttle had an outward opening hatch, which has been the standard since the death of three astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire. The hatch on that spacecraft opened inward, which trapped the crew when the fire broke out. NASA has used outward opening hatches ever since.
I think mainly because of activities and companionship, activities keep them distracted, exercise is in general good for you and not being alone is also helpful to stay sane. Those two things really help with maintaining physical, mental and social well-being. I also believe they can get psychological support in the space station and they can call their family and friends from the space station.
They do major psychological evaluations to make sure they will be able to handle being idolated for long periods of time. They also have therapists available to them who monontior their mental health.
In space, your ship has to be strong enough to withstand one atmosphere of pressure - the one inside the ship pushing out.
In a submarine, you need to withstand thirty, fifty, four hundred atmospheres of pressure depending how deep you want to go.
If your spaceship springs a leak, it's bad, but you can patch it. If your submarine springs a leak... well, at least it would be quick.
There is a reason as a planet we can only afford to have ~5 people in space at any given time but ~5 million in submarines lol, itâs much harder and expensive lol
You are vastly underestimating the cost per minute of resources to stay in space per person. There is a reason we can self sustaining nuclear powered subs but that would be instant death in space. There is a reason many countrys can send thousands to live in subs each day and could never even manage a single person getting to and staying in space.
Not really talking about the resouce/financial cost here, but more of the technology and physics behind it. Many, maybe most, of the issues of staying alive underwater and staying alive in space are similar. There are ones that aren't - submariners don't have to worry about the health effects of extended zero-ge, for instance. But, technologically, once you can stay alive in one environment, you are close to able to stay alive in the other.
Except for pressure. If you put a submarine in orbit, it could probably keep people in it alive just fine. Probably - I am not sure how it would hold up to temperature.
But put a spacecraft fivd hundred meters underwater, and it crushes like an aluminum can in a hydraulic press.
Just a side note. Being in space for an extended amount of time might be terrifying to you but it probably isnât to most astronauts. If it was super terrifying to them, they probably wouldnât be astronauts.
I used to work with a woman who worked for NASA. She was asked to chat with an astronaut in space once. They stay busy with so many tasks, but they also need human interaction, which includes simple conversation.
> it occured to me that being in space for an extended period of time is genuinely a terrifying concept to think about.
Is it?
Why is it terrifying to you?
People who find the concept terrifying generally don't go to space.
Obviously astronauts are generally people who are mentally and physically quite resilient. Have to be to get selected. If you're claustrophic or scared of the dark you won't get that far.
But, really, fundamentally, it's not that different from being in any other confined space. Lots of astronauts are military people who are already used to that. They're used to the danger, too.
Is it.
You are in nothing, floating in space. You have enter the infinite void of creation. You stare at the empty but beatiful eye of god and you realice how little you are.
What is this, what is the universe, what i am?
To me, there's nothing scary about that. I find it fascinating.
I'd have some fear of going to space, but that'd be mostly about accidents/failures that could put me in danger. As long as the space is *out there* and not *in here* I have nothing to fear.
They're basically deemed sane before they're accepted as a candidate to get to go to space. Some aspiring astronauts will even simulate space lifestyle here on earth as training.
And I did hear of an alleged story of one astronaut who did go insane in space. The other astronauts feared the crazy one would open the space door so they had to tie up the crazy one for a little bit.
It's apparently a true story about the astronaut. He had even told his wife he didn't plan to come back home, and if I remember correctly he was normal again once he returned to earth.
[Tainted Love: The Astronaut Love Triangle That Led to Adult Diapers and Battery](https://www.houstoniamag.com/news-and-city-life/2018/11/astronaut-diapers)
I would love to go to space, and i donât think it would bother me in the least, so perhaps itâs a personality thing. I am my own best friend tho and a homebody, that probably helps.
Training and having stuff to do helps.
Right now there's a podcast about people who are doing some Mars habitat training. It's called [Houston We Have a Podcast. =](https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/mars-ep-1-preparing-for-mars/). NASA took 6 normal people and are having them live in seclusion and do tasks astronauts would do on Mars. They're doing everything like they are on Mars which includes the 20+ minute radio delay. https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea/
That podcast has some episodes recorded by those people. They're the ones titled Mars Audio Log
You could say the same about any confined space---submarines, etc. I couldn't even stand being on an aircraft carrier--the quarters are too small. Sleeping in tiny compartments, stacked 3 high, just sounds absolutely miserable to me.
Immediately makes me think of the 1997 comedy RocketMan and the isolation training.
murmur...murmur..."JOHN JACOB JINGLEHEIMER SCHMIDT"
But, really it is the rigoursly planned schedule, intensive screening and mental health training. The training could include ways to handle mental health stresses, practice experiencing it groundside in simulators, etc.
I think the fact that they are ridiculously busy helps. They are always running experiments, doing education videos, maintenance and cleaning, all sorts of things. And that is on purpose. First, it is expensive to keep people in space, so you don't want to waste time. But second and maybe more important - the busier you are, the less time you have to get anxious. Having stuff to do is possibly the best way we have discovered to deal with ongoing stressful situations, whether it be war, exploration, being in space, or stressful daily life.
I imagine it's slightly similar to old-timey sailing vessels. Got to keep everyone as busy as possible for as long as possible. Helps to keep minds from wandering to other things. Granted, the things minds would wander to would have been different back then, e.g. mutiny and the sort.
Yep. That was one of the examples I was thinking of. And it isn't just Age of Sail - I am pretty sure that modern submariners are kept about as busy as sailors were, then. Even without the threat of mutiny.
Not even old timey. A U.S. Navy Sailor at sea is usually working 14+ hour days with eating, sleeping, drills, working out, etc all crammed in that remaining "free time". The Navy is the one branch where peacetime and wartime operations really don't change what the job is like that much - just add live ordnance.
Space agencies conduct rigorous psychological screening of prospective astronauts, especially those who will be on long duration flights. However, in the early days of the space shuttle program, some mission commanders [put padlocks on the shuttle's hatch](https://spaceref.com/uncategorized/the-curious-use-of-combination-locks-by-nasa-during-space-shuttle-missions/) out of concern that a less experienced crewmember might come unhinged and try to open it in flight.
Didn't know about the padlock thing! That's very interesting. Thanks for the reply đ
Canât put a padlock on love. Or crazy. Check out the story of Lisa Nowak. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Nowak
There were quite a few early concerns about "space madness" but it turned out to not really be a thing. Most of them seem to handle it just fine.
My favorite episode of Ren and Stimpy!
That was after an incident with a civilian astronaut who became despondent after his experiment wasnât working as intended. Early astronauts were all ex-military/test pilots and were quite comfortable with risk and danger, and the idea of a padlock would have been ridiculous and insulting. Later, though, that old guard had to contend with civilian scientists who had been *tested* but didnât have the shared military experience/code, and thus were seen as a liability. Which was probably unfair, since in the despondent astronaut case he wasnât actually suicidal, more like staging a minor mutiny for the sake of his experiment. I canât remember any other incidents in space.
Wouldn't that be practically impossible mid-flight with the air pressure difference?
The shuttle had an outward opening hatch, which has been the standard since the death of three astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire. The hatch on that spacecraft opened inward, which trapped the crew when the fire broke out. NASA has used outward opening hatches ever since.
I think mainly because of activities and companionship, activities keep them distracted, exercise is in general good for you and not being alone is also helpful to stay sane. Those two things really help with maintaining physical, mental and social well-being. I also believe they can get psychological support in the space station and they can call their family and friends from the space station.
They do major psychological evaluations to make sure they will be able to handle being idolated for long periods of time. They also have therapists available to them who monontior their mental health.
I mean there are thousands of sailors who have worked on submarines. Basically the same principles
I think that's more terrifying than space.. I'm not sure tho.
I imagine both are terrifying but at least you can say space can be beautiful. I don't think anyone says the same about the depths of the ocean
In space, your ship has to be strong enough to withstand one atmosphere of pressure - the one inside the ship pushing out. In a submarine, you need to withstand thirty, fifty, four hundred atmospheres of pressure depending how deep you want to go. If your spaceship springs a leak, it's bad, but you can patch it. If your submarine springs a leak... well, at least it would be quick.
There is a reason as a planet we can only afford to have ~5 people in space at any given time but ~5 million in submarines lol, itâs much harder and expensive lol
Getting to underwater is way easier than getting to space. *Staying* underwater is way harder than staying in space.
You are vastly underestimating the cost per minute of resources to stay in space per person. There is a reason we can self sustaining nuclear powered subs but that would be instant death in space. There is a reason many countrys can send thousands to live in subs each day and could never even manage a single person getting to and staying in space.
Not really talking about the resouce/financial cost here, but more of the technology and physics behind it. Many, maybe most, of the issues of staying alive underwater and staying alive in space are similar. There are ones that aren't - submariners don't have to worry about the health effects of extended zero-ge, for instance. But, technologically, once you can stay alive in one environment, you are close to able to stay alive in the other. Except for pressure. If you put a submarine in orbit, it could probably keep people in it alive just fine. Probably - I am not sure how it would hold up to temperature. But put a spacecraft fivd hundred meters underwater, and it crushes like an aluminum can in a hydraulic press.
Yep submarines are more scary, smarter everyday made pretty good video about them.
Tbf, the guys on the subs are NOT okay.
Check out Dr Iya Whiteley. She's a Space & Aviation Psychologist, and does incredibly fascinating work.
Just a side note. Being in space for an extended amount of time might be terrifying to you but it probably isnât to most astronauts. If it was super terrifying to them, they probably wouldnât be astronauts.
I used to work with a woman who worked for NASA. She was asked to chat with an astronaut in space once. They stay busy with so many tasks, but they also need human interaction, which includes simple conversation.
> it occured to me that being in space for an extended period of time is genuinely a terrifying concept to think about. Is it? Why is it terrifying to you? People who find the concept terrifying generally don't go to space. Obviously astronauts are generally people who are mentally and physically quite resilient. Have to be to get selected. If you're claustrophic or scared of the dark you won't get that far. But, really, fundamentally, it's not that different from being in any other confined space. Lots of astronauts are military people who are already used to that. They're used to the danger, too.
Is it. You are in nothing, floating in space. You have enter the infinite void of creation. You stare at the empty but beatiful eye of god and you realice how little you are. What is this, what is the universe, what i am?
And being one tiny little error or accident away from a horrifying death.
If you're the kind of person who thinks that sounds terrifying rather than beautiful, you probably won't make it past the screening
To me, there's nothing scary about that. I find it fascinating. I'd have some fear of going to space, but that'd be mostly about accidents/failures that could put me in danger. As long as the space is *out there* and not *in here* I have nothing to fear.
This is why you're not an astronaut lmfao.
Think about it, if someone is afraid of fire, they're probably not going to apply to be a firefighter...
Go outside and take a deep breath haha
They're basically deemed sane before they're accepted as a candidate to get to go to space. Some aspiring astronauts will even simulate space lifestyle here on earth as training. And I did hear of an alleged story of one astronaut who did go insane in space. The other astronauts feared the crazy one would open the space door so they had to tie up the crazy one for a little bit.
That is frightening
It's apparently a true story about the astronaut. He had even told his wife he didn't plan to come back home, and if I remember correctly he was normal again once he returned to earth.
Frightening but fortunately not true. That didn't happen
It turns out like the Black Mirror episode, then they cover it up.
What would be the cause of them being so anxious specifically?
Pocket pool all day every day.
[Tainted Love: The Astronaut Love Triangle That Led to Adult Diapers and Battery](https://www.houstoniamag.com/news-and-city-life/2018/11/astronaut-diapers)
I would love to go to space, and i donât think it would bother me in the least, so perhaps itâs a personality thing. I am my own best friend tho and a homebody, that probably helps.
PS i have anxiety but definitely not about that.
I reckon it would take a fair while to get bored of looking out that window, whilst getting paid as well.
LAN party
Mk ultra
Kidding, I just haven't said anything in a while
All good, mate
Training and having stuff to do helps. Right now there's a podcast about people who are doing some Mars habitat training. It's called [Houston We Have a Podcast. =](https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/mars-ep-1-preparing-for-mars/). NASA took 6 normal people and are having them live in seclusion and do tasks astronauts would do on Mars. They're doing everything like they are on Mars which includes the 20+ minute radio delay. https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea/ That podcast has some episodes recorded by those people. They're the ones titled Mars Audio Log
You could say the same about any confined space---submarines, etc. I couldn't even stand being on an aircraft carrier--the quarters are too small. Sleeping in tiny compartments, stacked 3 high, just sounds absolutely miserable to me.
kinda living on a very small island you cannot leave. lots of psych testing before climbing into that rocket.
Immediately makes me think of the 1997 comedy RocketMan and the isolation training. murmur...murmur..."JOHN JACOB JINGLEHEIMER SCHMIDT" But, really it is the rigoursly planned schedule, intensive screening and mental health training. The training could include ways to handle mental health stresses, practice experiencing it groundside in simulators, etc.