NASA Wants to Know : Cooped Up in Space: How Will People Get Along?

Imagine being trapped in a motor home with 11 other people for six months.

You cannot go anywhere because this particular motor home is a space station orbiting Earth.

The scenario is probable, because the National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to put a space station in orbit in 1993. Crews will stay up for months at a time before being replaced by others.

Since up to 12 people will be living in the cramped quarters of a few modules no wider than 15 feet and no longer than 60 feet, NASA is taking a careful look at human factors that may affect the crew’s ability to work as a team.

The inquiry is spearheaded by Michael Sparks, a California State University, Sacramento, professor whose specialty is designing teams for business.

Behavior Laboratory

Sparks recently received two NASA grants totaling more than $136,000 to study human behavior in space laboratories and make recommendations related to the space station mission. His objective is a model team-training plan for astronauts.

“It’s a little rugged when you go into space,” Sparks said. “A quick seven-day visit isn’t bad. But in 1993, six to 12 people will spend up to six months in the same conditions they have in Antarctica.

“It’s like 12 people living in a Winnebago for six months. They’re going to have community problems, human relations problems.”

That includes the possibility of arguments, scuffles, mistakes and withdrawal from reality by individuals and even whole groups.

Mental Problems Possible

Sparks recalled the story of a Russian cosmonaut who became so intrigued with the stars that he drifted away from his space home until “he was caught by the heel and brought back.” Submariners have been known to go berserk on prolonged sea patrols.

Previous U.S. space missions have been too limited in scope to pose serious teamwork problems, said Sparks, who noted that the longest Skylab tour was 83 days. Soviet cosmonauts have been in space for as long as six months at a time, so the Russians may know more about team problems than we do, he said.

Early American missions have focused mainly on engineering tasks performed by mostly military crews. But future expeditions increasingly will include scientists, teachers, an occasional newspaper reporter and a mix of sexes, Sparks said.

“NASA is a bit prudish. Its basic attitude toward sex is that ‘our people are professionals,’ but it is an issue.”

May Be No. 1 Problem

The researcher said one of his university management classes rated sex as the No. 1 human problem on long-duration space missions. Their suggested solutions “ranged from abstinence to husband-wife teams to space hookers, so I don’t know what NASA’s going to do about this.”

Screening prospective team members will be difficult since even two “nice guys” may not get along, and multinational crews will have cultural problems.

Much of Sparks’ research has been based on what happens on Earth when people are isolated in small groups for extended periods. He said he found that prison inmates, for example, experience anxiety because they cannot take care of their families. A phone call often is not enough.

He already has some tentative ground rules for space teams:

“You try to figure where the other person is at before you say something. You don’t just spout off. If the conflict is not important, put it aside for a while. And competitive forms of recreation should be avoided because of the possibility of arguments.”