Psychology of Space Exploration
• atmospheric revitalization and contamination control;
• development and validation of procedures for the medical and psychological
screening of recruits;
• identification of techniques for initiating and sustaining individual motivation
and group morale; and
• identification of stressors, assessment of the severity of patterns of stress reac-
tivity, and development of effective stress coping strategies.^44
An extension of the submersible operational environment of a military subma-
rine is the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations program (NEEMO)
being conducted in the Aquarius underwater habitat situated off Key Largo,
Florida—the only undersea research laboratory in the world. Owned by the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by the
National Undersea Research Center (NURC) of the University of North Carolina
at Wilmington on behalf of NOAA, Aquarius is the submerged analog to NOAA
oceanic research vessels. First deployed in 1988 in the U.S. Virgin Islands and
relocated to Key Largo in 1992, the underwater facility has hosted more than 80
missions and 13 crews of astronauts and space researchers since 2001. Aquarius
provides a capsule habitat uniquely situated within an environment that replicates
many of the closed-loop constraints of the vacuum of space, a hostile, alien envi-
ronment that requires total dependency on life support; poses significant restric-
tions to escape or access to immediate help; and is defined by limited, confined
habitable space and physical isolation. The complexity of NEEMO missions further
parallels space missions in their mission architecture, with similar requirements for
extensive planning, training, control, and monitoring via an external mission con-
trol entity. However, it has only been the most recent NEEMO missions in which
stress, fatigue, and cognitive fitness, as well as individual and intrapersonal mood
and interaction, have been the focus of study.
- B. B. Weybrew, R. L. Helmreich, and N. Howard, “Psychobiological and Psychosocial
Issues in Space Station Planning and Design: Inferences from Analogous Environments and
Conditions” (unpublished report prepared for NASA, 1986).