Flying with Strangers: Postmission Reflections of Multinational Space Crewscompatible with such reports as that of Shannon Lucid, a long-duration Mir res-
ident with two Russian crewmates: “Yes, we really had a good time together. We
really enjoyed being there together. Yuri and Yuri were absolutely fantastic to work
with. I mean, I could not have picked better people to spend a long period of time
with. We just lived every day as it came. We enjoyed every day. We enjoyed work-
ing together and joking around together. It was just a very good experience, I think,
for all of us.”^40
It should be noted that, in the same way, the majority crewmembers expressed
trust and friendship toward their foreign colleagues—once again contradicting the
negative picture drawn from selective quoting of particular complaints. However,
comparisons of comments concerning the in-flight phase with those concerning the
postflight phase showed that these positive feelings did decline on both sides (and
especially among minorities), and both majority and minority veterans of long-
duration missions showed more Mistrust and Negative Intimacy than those who
flew shorter missions. Growing interpersonal stress as a function of isolation and
confinement with the same small group for over four months was thus confirmed
by our data.
We expected to find changes in values, as in previous research.^41 Among the
most interesting changes was the drop in references to Power and Self-Direction,
for both groups but especially for the minority, as the narratives moved from the
pre- to the in-flight portion, followed by increases after the flight. The highly regi-
mented aspects of the launch and the flight itself probably explain the general find-
ing, and the somewhat tenuous and isolated role we have seen for many minority
crewmembers, from which they were freed after the mission, explains their more
dramatic changes. Minorities’ position within the crew may also be implied by their
higher scores on coping by Seeking Social Support and lower scores on Accepting
Responsibility—which in many cases they were not permitted to do. However, they
also used Planful Problem-Solving more frequently than their majority counterparts,
- Shannon Lucid, interview by Mark Davison, Rebecca Wright, and Paul Rollins, 17 June
1998, published through “Shuttle-Mir Oral History Project,” Johnson Space Center History
Portal, available at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/participants.htm (accessed 7 June
2010). - Suedfeld, “Space Memoirs”: 583–586.