About the Authorspsychological preparedness and support of ISS astronauts. Her current research
involves Antarctica as an analog for long-duration spaceflight and competencies
necessary for successful Moon and Mars missions.
Slack attended the London School of Economics before receiving her B.A.
from Rice University. She received her M.A. in psychology and her Ph.D. in
industrial/organizational psychology with a minor in statistics from the University
of Houston.
She may be reached at [email protected], telephone 281-212-1404, or at
Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group, 1290 Hercules Drive, Houston,
TX 77058.
Peter Suedfeld was born in Hungary and immigrated to the United States after
World War II. After serving in the U.S. Army, he received his B.A. from Queens
College of the City University of New York and his M.A. and Ph.D. in experimen-
tal psychology from Princeton University. He taught at the University of Illinois
and Rutgers University prior to joining the University of British Columbia in 1972
as head of the Department of Psychology. He later became dean of the Faculty of
Graduate Studies, and he now holds emeritus status.
His research, published in seven books and over 270 book chapters and jour-
nal articles, has focused on the strengths of people as they cope during and after
experiencing extreme, unusual, challenging, and traumatic events and environ-
ments. His methodology has included laboratory experiments in profound stim-
ulus reduction; fieldwork in the Antarctic and the High Arctic; and interview
and questionnaire studies with Holocaust survivors, prisoners in solitary confine-
ment, and astronauts. More recently, he has been developing and applying meth-
ods of quantitative content analysis to archival material produced by individuals
in those groups as well as solitary sailors, early explorers, mountain climbers, and
high-level political and military leaders in situations of personal, national, and
international stress.
Suedfeld is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (the National Academy),
the Canadian Psychological Association (president, 1990–91), the American
Psychological Association (six divisions), the Academy of Behavioral Medicine
Research, and other scientific organizations. He is a corresponding member of the
International Academy of Astronautics, and he is the only psychologist elected as