No Longer Earthlings

Exploration among the stars has captured the imagination of human beings for thousands of years. It is no surprise then that as humans began journeying into space, anthropology was quick to study what this could mean for our species. Questioning what it means to be human had a particular weight when we began to conceptualize the Earth as one whole community on one tiny blue planet, at the same time setting our sights on a new galactic frontier. However, while space-faring technology has flourished in the fifty-odd years since we put a man on the moon, the anthropological study of space is lagging behind. As we stand at the beginning of a New Space Age, only broad questions have been asked. In-depth literature only comes in fits and bursts. Even when taken as a whole body, one critical question has barely been raised, let alone studied: how does traveling through space change astronaut identities? 

 

In the tech-focused world of space engineering, the social sciences are no doubt at the margins. Examples include researchers studying the psychology of space travelers, and ecologists ensuring that spacecraft are ideal habitats. Yet what has been overlooked is the simple fact that strangers are coming together to train and migrate in emergency- and crisis-ridden contexts, not just across land and sea, but away from the planet entirely. How does this unique cosmopolitanism reshape astronauts? These questions are even more pressing when we consider that they are literally alienated from their earthly communities.

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Within the social sciences, an anthropological study of individual transformation can serve as a contextual foundation for psychological evaluation (how is the brain repatterning behaviors as identities are called into question?) and sociological team building (how do team dynamics change as interpersonal encounters shape each team member?). Medical sciences have much to gain from understanding astronauts’ subjective experiences of crises, emergencies, and encounters, which can then be factored into biological responses. Finally, even technologically minded fields can apply this data to projects in AI and machine learning, potentially comparing human to AI stress responses or creating user interfaces that are more adapted to astronauts’ needs. Beyond the sciences, the story of space travel creating a character arc and growth has the potential to capture the imaginations of public audiences and provides an unprecedented platform for science communication.

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No Longer Earthlings is my PhD research project, combining work done with the UCL Ethno-ISS Program, the University of Oxford Migration Studies, Anthropology and COMPAS research groups, Space Health Research's Meili-II and Meili-II analogue missions, and the Asclepios V analogue mission. It incorporates fieldwork as/with analogue astronauts and personal interviews with flown and trainee astronauts. 

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The project's aim is to comprehend the question: 'Who are we when we are no longer earthlings?' 

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Subsequent lines of inquiry include:

• How might extraterrestrial human identities be constructed?

• What will local cultures on space stations and lunar habitats look like?

• How will space-based communities relate and communicate with Earth?

• What is the experience like for those family and friends who remain, and how might these ties be maintained during prolonged space habitation?

• Inquiries into the 'Us and Them' phenomenon of astronaut-mission control antagonism.

• What is the impact of transforming anonymous lunar terrain into emotionally charged and personal places through cartography and placemaking?