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PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES IN SPACE: RESULTS FROM SHUTTLE/MIR.   N. Kanas¹, V.Salnitskiy², E. Grund¹, D.S. Weiss¹, V. Gushin², O.Kozerenko², A. Sled², and C.R. Marmar¹. ¹Univ of California and Dept of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco; and ²Institute for Biomedical Problems, Moscow.

                Important psychosocial issues involving tension, cohesion, leader support, and in-group/out-group interactions were evaluated in a  4 Ѕ-year study involving 5 U.S. and 4 Russian Shuttle/Mir space missions. During the in-flight phase of the missions, weekly mood and group climate questionnaires were completed by 5 astronauts, 8 cosmonauts, and 42 U.S. and 16 Russian mission control subjects. Where appropriate, the results from this study were corrected for Type I errors due to multiple significance testing. All 6 tests of the hypothesized displacement of tension and negative emotions from crewmembers on-orbit to mission control personnel on Earth were significant, and 5 of the 6 tests of displacement from mission control personnel to management were significant. In contrast, there were few findings that supported our hypothesized changes in tension, cohesion, and leader support in crew and ground subjects as a function of various time models (e.g., 1^st vs 2^nd half, triphasic). There were several significant differences in response between Americans and Russians and between crewmembers and mission control personnel. These findings suggest that countermeasures need to be developed to deal with displacement, cultural differences, and crew-ground interactions in order to improve the interpersonal climate of future international space missions. These countermeasures would have special relevance for pre-launch training and in-flight support, and they should include both crewmembers and ground personnel who are involved with the missions. The impact of factors other than time on interpersonal functioning during the course of the missions needs to be explored. In the future, we plan to evaluate the influence of stressful events and other incidents on crew tension, cohesion, and leader support.

(Supported by NASA contract #NAS9-19411.)