The Relevance of Team Processes for Different Task Characteristics during Performance Episodes and Over Time in Astronaut Crews and Their Support Teams

Teams working in spaceflight missions belong to the group of extreme teams, as ineffective performance can have serious consequences. Thus, research focuses on understanding team (transition, action, and interpersonal) processes of those teams and their influence on performance. This study investigates the development of team processes in tasks incorporating different task characteristics (generate, choose, negotiate, and execute tasks) on two temporal dimensions (short-term and long-term) in two teams—analog astronauts (AAs) = stable throughout mission and the Mission Support Centre (MSC) = fluctuating members throughout mission—during a four-week analog Mars mission. There were six performance episodes, each incorporating one task that represents one task characteristic, which both teams had to work on within their own team. Video recordings of the performance episodes were used to descriptively evaluate the team processes of each team using the Communication Analysis Tool. Results demonstrate that depending on the task characteristic and the timing during a given performance episode, AAs and the MSC display similar but also contrasting short-term patterns in their team processes, providing insights into which processes are crucial for achieving high performance when considering a particular task characteristic. Long-term, AAs used action processes more often, whereas the MSC implemented transition processes more frequently. This indicates that AAs move to operational work quickly, since their team is stable and they know each other, whereas the MSC needs to find common ground first as the team is fluctuating.