Psychology of Space Exploration

Flying with Strangers: Postmission Reflections of Multinational Space Crews

Figure 3. Minority value changes by mission phase.

1. Majorities versus minorities: Minority or majority status made a significant
   difference in the social relations references: minorities were more mistrust-
   ful and more negative about intimacy than majorities. There were no reli-
   able overall differences and no interaction effects on the basis of gender or
   the nationality of crewmates. References to relations between the source and
   his or her family members were more positive in both subcategories when the
   source flew with a foreign majority. Minority astronauts showed more Negative
   Intimacy references toward their own space agency and showed more Mistrust
   toward the foreign home agency of their majority colleagues.
   There were no majority-minority differences in either positive or negative
   orientation toward astronauts’ fellow crewmembers; these comments were pre-
   dominantly positive (high Trust and Positive Intimacy). The same was true of
   references to other people in general. Minorities who flew in Russian space-
   craft mentioned both positive and negative social relations (Trust and Mistrust,
   Positive and Negative Intimacy) more frequently than those who flew with
   American majorities, although only the difference in Trust reached the p = .05
   level of significance.


2. Mission duration: Regardless of status, long-duration crewmembers made more
   references to Mistrust than those on shorter missions. Majorities had higher