Chapter 6
Gender Composition and Crew Cohesion During
Long-Duration Space Missions
Jason P. Kring
Department of Human Factors and Systems
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Megan A. Kaminski
Program in Human Factors and Applied Cognition
George Mason University
ABSTRACT
A major factor in the success of future long-duration space missions is the
psychosocial functioning of the crew. An individual’s psychological health and
well-being has a major impact on how well he or she adapts to the demands of iso-
lation, confinement, and workload associated with complex missions. Although
each crewmember possesses a unique combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities
that influence their capacity to adapt, in this chapter we argue that mission success
also relies on how well an individual functions in the larger social context of the
mission. More specifically, interactions between crewmembers, as well as between
the crew and ground personnel, play a significant role in the crew’s overall perfor-
mance. Although many variables affect crew interactions, such as opportunities for
personal space and privacy afforded by the spacecraft’s architecture, we contend
that the most prominent factor is the crew’s composition. Beyond the size of the
crew, the mixture of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and the blend of professional
expertise, the most salient crew composition variable is gender.
Since even before Valentina Tereshkova’s flight in 1963, women have played
an integral role in the history of human spaceflight. As of April 2010, for instance,
53 different women have flown in space, many as part of mixed-gendered crews
aboard Russian space stations or the International Space Station (ISS). The April
2010 flight of Space Shuttle Discovery to the ISS set a record for the most women