Spaceflight and Cross-Cultural Psychologycultural issues pertaining to the nation of the international partner. Additionally,
there is an opportunity for astronauts in Long Duration Mission (LDM) training for
the ISS to live with a Russian family for a few weeks during their years of ISS train-
ing. Many astronauts have taken advantage of this experiential opportunity. Also,
the Behavioral Health and Performance Section at Johnson Space Center devel-
oped a two-day seminar for LDM astronauts. Developed and presented with astro-
naut participation, this program is now managed by the Astronaut Corps.^22 But
perhaps most important of all is the joint training, for many years, of astronauts and
cosmonauts in the United States and Russia.
When initially confronting cultural issues, NASA had to rely on intuition,
trial and error, and common sense. Now, NASA can draw on the results of several
decades of research on interaction in small groups, especially in those of heteroge-
neous composition, to better understand the social realities within the space capsule.
Researchers and operational personnel now build on the store of information that
accumulated in preparing sojourners, visitors, and immigrants for encounters with
a new culture. The space program can both utilize and anticipate the achievements
of emerging academic cross-cultural psychology, which is based in part on controlled
observation.^23 Thus, we see a shrinking gulf between the research of cross-cultural psy-
chologists and NASA’s efforts to prepare astronauts for international missions. We
turn now to theories and principles that may reduce this gulf further.
THE DOMAIN OF CROSS-CULTURAL
PSYCHOLOGY: CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
AND INTERCULTURAL INTERACTION
For the present purposes, following Kring, culture is defined as “an individual’s
values, beliefs, behavior patterns and language that are directly linked to his or her
national and ethnic background.”^24 Cross-cultural psychology is concerned with
“the study of similarities and differences in individual psychological functioning
- W. Sipes, personal communication, 8 April 2008.
- Ritsher, “Cultural Factors and the International Space Station.”
- Kring, “Multicultural Factors”: 12.