Identification Of Psychological Stressors For Long Duration Space Missions: Psychological Stressors Among Five Astronauts And Cosmonauts
As humans continue to experience space missions of longer and longer duration, more and more high intensity stressors are going to be experienced. Although physiological stressors have been studied, there have been few studies on the psychological stressors. Those that are present primarily focused on the polar environment as a space analogue. In order to answer the question of how stressors may affect future astronauts and cosmonauts, the evolutoinary reasons behind stress must be considered not only the type and intensity of the stressors. Five astronauts and cosmonauts representing three space agencies were surveyed regarding their experiences with ten types of general stressors and eight types of interpersonal conflict related stressors. These stressors were analysed as to their perceived frequency, intensity, and the risk to mission success of both short-term and long-term missinos. Subjects who had experienced longer duration spaceflight tended to experience more stressors at a higher intensity.
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