Crew Perceived Stress During Short-Duration Space Analog Missions

Space mission simulations at facilities and locations analogous to spaceflight environments are commonly used to explore the impacts of stress on crew members and validate stress mitigation strategies. As part of a study monitoring crew psychological and behavioral indicators, twenty-four space analog mission crew members took pre-mission, during-mission, and post-mission Perceived Stress Questionnaires (PSQ). One mission was conducted at the Mars Desert Research Station (N=7), two missions at the Mars Arctic Research Station (N=8), and three missions at the Integrated Lunar/ Mars Analog Habitat (N=9). Mission durations were between twelve and seventeen days. It was hypothesized that the space analogs’ isolated, confined, and extreme environments would increase perceived stress. However, all three analog facilities’ crew members experienced a non-statistically significant reduction in perceived stress (ANOVA P=0.26) while conducting the mission compared to the pre-mission and post-mission results. This observed reduction in perceived stress during the missions compared to the pre-mission and post-mission questionnaires suggests that short-duration space analog missions may not yield a stress response sufficiently analogous to spaceflight to conduct research concerning stress in spaceflight environments.