Behavioral Healthhave expressed concern that the physical, psychological, and interpersonal stress-
ors of spaceflight could endanger a crew, undercut performance, and lower the qual-
ity of life. Episodes in spaceflight-analogous environments and a few incidents in
space suggest that although no astronauts have been recalled to Earth on the basis
of psychological and social challenges, adaptation must be taken into account.
Astronaut participation in extended-duration missions, the prospects of a return
to the Moon, continuing public enthusiasm for a mission to Mars, the reformula-
tion of research questions following the publication of Safe Passage, and the coevo-
lution of NASA’s Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap and the National Space
Biomedical Research Institute initiated a new era for psychology. According to our
analysis, since the dawn of the modern space station era, there has been an increase
in both research and operational interest in spaceflight behavioral health. Slowly,
and perhaps painfully, psychology has gained greater recognition within the U.S.
space program, and there is a growing convergence of interests to target research at
operational problems.^82
Current NASA administration has mandated that human research be oper-
ationally relevant. This is partly driven by funding shortages and partly by needs
to meet NASA performance standards and requirements when astronauts once
again venture beyond low-Earth orbit. The new Human Research Program docu-
ments including the “Human Research Program Requirements Document” and the
“Human Research Program Integrated Research Plan” are the bases for defining,
documenting, and allocating human research program requirements as they have
evolved from the older Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap and new NASA
standards and requirements that emphasize future missions. As explained on the
NASA Web site, “The Human Research Program (HRP) delivers human health
and performance countermeasures, knowledge, technologies, and tools to enable
safe, reliable, and productive human space exploration. This Integrated Research
Plan (IRP) describes the program’s research activities that are intended to address
the needs of human space exploration and serve IRP customers. The timescale
of human space exploration is envisioned to take many decades. The IRP illus-
- Albert A. Harrison, “Behavioral Health: Integrating Research and Application in Support
of Exploration Missions,” Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 76, no. 6, sect. II (June
2005): B3–B12.