Extraterrestrial Journeys

Originally published in SES Exploration Revealed Issue 3

June 15, 2023

Photo: The moon and Venus over a Korean rice field. Michael Murphy

An anthropologist sets out to study how astronaut identities are impacted by journeys in space.

I am lying in a rice field in Korea at 3 am. Six-and-a-half thousand miles from where I was born, I feel adrift. My journey has taken me here. Staring up at the stars, I wonder how astronauts must feel, drifting so far from everything they’ve ever known.

For nearly a decade, I have been studying how journeys change people–particularly prolonged, crisis-ridden journeys that make you question who you are. So far, my work has been with forced migrants, those who have no home to go back to. Beginning in August though, my focus will shift to the stars. 

In my research, I have seen how migrants are changed by emergency experiences on their journeys. Their extreme conditions force them to reconsider cultural norms. Meanwhile, what was ‘home’ has changed in their absence. A unique form of homelessness develops when the traveler and home have lost each other through disparate growth. 

However, we know very little about the impacts of extraterrestrial journeys on astronauts. They are psychologically evaluated, yes, but do journeys in space change them? Can one ever be the same after being alienated entirely from their home, species, and planet? 

For instance, the Overview Effect is a well-known cognitive shift that some astronauts have reported upon seeing the whole earth in one viewing. Additionally, over the years, various astronauts have described being, “no longer earthlings” (Linengar 2001) and “untranslatable to one's self” (Lebedev 1990). Like a war veteran or someone who has undergone spiritual awakening, the transformative experience of being beyond Earth cannot be explained, it can only be experienced. 

Part of the reason this research is difficult is that researchers cannot go to space with astronauts and observe changes in real time. However, I believe I have found a way to be with astronauts as they undergo this process. Beginning in August, I will be working with the University College London Space Health Risk Research Group (SHHR), and the Ethnographies of an Extra-terrestrial Society: the International Space Station project (Ethno-ISS) in order to answer these questions through an analogue mission. Analogue missions are common training exercises that teach astronauts skills before they go to space. Examples include geological sampling, experiencing low-gravity environments, and testing hardware. 

For two weeks, I will join other researchers as we observe six analogue astronauts completing mission objectives and navigating health hazards. The astronauts will land on an isolated island with shelter and limited supplies. They will have very limited contact with other humans, primarily the researchers who are observing them from afar. Even that contact will have a 17-minute delay–the time it takes for a message to reach Mars. The astronauts will conduct a geological survey and scout for additional landing sites. 

As part of Space Health Research’s (SHR) mission design, they will also be prompted to simulate medical emergencies that require prolonged care, such as an allergic reaction or a broken bone. Emergency simulations will last for 8 hours each, meaning that caretakers will need to navigate relapses, biological needs, and shelter. SHRR is trying to create standardized care practices when the nearest hospital is 250,000 miles away. Meanwhile, I will be studying the impacts of these emergencies in settings of communal alienation. When astronauts are completely removed from the planet and cultural rules are discarded in favour of saving someone’s life, how does this catalyze a change in identity? 

In addition to interviewing the astronauts, I will have each astronaut journal for at least 15 minutes per day with pen and paper, encouraging them to write freely, illustrate, and incorporate other media as needed. By reading their experiences, margin notes,  scribbles, and doodles, I can get as close to their minds as possible. The process of creating a narrative out of their experiences forces them to reflect on how they have been impacted. This subjective data will heavily complement my objective observation data. Then, I can trace any changes that develop and compare them to interview data, as well as triangulating different astronauts’ accounts.

Analogue missions offer an opportunity for social sciences to study the impacts of journeys in space-like conditions because astronauts are made to feel like they are on another planet. This is a first step to understanding how actual space travel might impact astronauts’ self-conceptualization. 

As I am writing this, Virgin Galactic has finished its final test flight before allowing private tours in space. Space X is hot on its tail. Space is no longer the domain of governments, as private markets drive a second space race. It is critical that we understand the impacts of journeys, emergencies, and extreme alienation on astronauts. 

Citations

V. Lebedev, (1990). Diary of a Cosmonaut: 211 Days in Space. Bantam Books.

J. Linengar, (2001). Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir. McGraw-Hill.