New Uh oh of Stress
Reading the article by Arlene Levine, “Psychological Effects of Long-Duration Space Missions and Stress Amelioration Techniques”, I have come to understand that as make longer and longer missions into space, the more stressors the cosmonauts will experience. Also, as time progresses, more and more non professional astronauts will be allowed on more. This will surely include psychologists and eventually, as a lot more time progresses, even interior and exterior designers. As of now both Russian and American governments and even the Japanese are developing techniques just to get the astronauts up into space and survive.
A misconception when it comes to putting people into space is the fact that the American government has only logged in five years, while the Soviet Union has logged in twelve years of putting men in space. Isolation is one of these big stressors because it is the estrangement from all that is familiar. Confinement into small quarters with other individuals also adds to isolation. Of course we already know that microgravity does horrible things to or body and causes our bones to lose density. This problem has to be solved because if a cosmonaut goes into space for a few years, they all of a sudden have the bone density of a senior citizen. How can anyone work under those kinds of conditions? Also, radiation and toxic chemicals also pose a danger but these stressors have already been covered in class.
The idea that I wish to propose is what about disease? But, not diseases from Earth. What about diseases that we can contract in space. Earth is only a tiny planet in the grand scheme of things and it carries thousands of different types of diseases. How can protect ourselves against something so small and yet so unknown. Its kind of like that old star trek episode where Spok and some other guy go down to a planet and they find that everyone is dead. Not only is everyone dead, but they died in strange ways. One guy died while fully clothed taking a shower. The viewer later finds out that there was a strange organism that infected people and caused them to do strange things. What if something like this happens in space? Do we have any types of countermeasures to such events?
A misconception when it comes to putting people into space is the fact that the American government has only logged in five years, while the Soviet Union has logged in twelve years of putting men in space. Isolation is one of these big stressors because it is the estrangement from all that is familiar. Confinement into small quarters with other individuals also adds to isolation. Of course we already know that microgravity does horrible things to or body and causes our bones to lose density. This problem has to be solved because if a cosmonaut goes into space for a few years, they all of a sudden have the bone density of a senior citizen. How can anyone work under those kinds of conditions? Also, radiation and toxic chemicals also pose a danger but these stressors have already been covered in class.
The idea that I wish to propose is what about disease? But, not diseases from Earth. What about diseases that we can contract in space. Earth is only a tiny planet in the grand scheme of things and it carries thousands of different types of diseases. How can protect ourselves against something so small and yet so unknown. Its kind of like that old star trek episode where Spok and some other guy go down to a planet and they find that everyone is dead. Not only is everyone dead, but they died in strange ways. One guy died while fully clothed taking a shower. The viewer later finds out that there was a strange organism that infected people and caused them to do strange things. What if something like this happens in space? Do we have any types of countermeasures to such events?