Psychology of Space Exploration
by ensuring that it can be shared with the world—but confirming this hypothesis
would required a more structured survey of crewmembers. The database structure of
CEO also adds personal value to crewmembers, making it easier for them to search
for images they have taken for their own use.
From our analyses for hypotheses 1 and 2, self-initiated images were less likely
to be taken when workload prevented it—and since 84.5 percent of images taken
are self-initiated, Earth photography is clearly a leisure activity. However, crews are
more likely to take self-initiated images as the mission progresses—perhaps due to
acclimation and familiarity with life and duties on the Station or a growing real-
ization that their time in space, and thus their ability to photograph Earth from
space, is limited. This trend over the duration of the mission was the only mission
phasing observed. A more careful examination of figure 3 suggests that the phasing
effect might be due more to individual differences pertaining to specific missions or
perhaps to an increasing competency with the photographic equipment. It is not
clear to what extent this phasing effect might reflect differences in mission profiles
or characteristics of the particular crewmembers assigned to the particular missions.
Future Research and ApplicationsIn spite of the importance of behavioral health and performance for the suc-
cess of human spaceflight missions, relatively few studies have been done on the
ISS to date.^24 This analysis of data collected for other purposes serves as an exam-
ple of mining data collected as part of ISS operations to increase knowledge. Such
analyses can inform surveys for future data collection and influence future behav-
ioral studies on the ISS. Given these observations, future studies should consider
crew motivations in photographing Earth. Psychological component testing could
reveal whether taking more self-initiated images is associated with increased crew
psychological well-being.
- Cynthia A. Evans, Julie A. Robinson, Judy Tate-Brown, Tracy Thumm, Jessica Crespo-
Richey, David Baumann, and Jennifer Rhatigan, International Space Station Science Research
Accomplishments During the Assembly Years: An Analysis of Results from 2000–2008 (Houston, TX:
NASA Johnson Space Center, NASA/TP-2009-213146–REVISION A, 2009), pp. 110–159.