ASTRONAUT MENTAL HEALTH

Why does mental health matter

• Away from Earth in a confined space
• No real entertainment just the same work
• If a astronaut gets scared he could scare the others
• Scaring the astronauts could cause them to get angry
• Being alone in space not able to leave you can feel trapped

Why does mental health matter

• When scared an astronaut may try to get away
• Doing so can get him and others killed
• When in deep space nobody to calm you down
• Anxiety and depression together can then add up
• Then the person is unstable and can jeopardize the mission

Lisa Nowak

• Former NASA astronaut went to space in 2006
• She was in charge of robotics on the ship Discovery
• In 2007 she kidnapped a US Air Force captain
• She was also charged with burglary and battery
• She was discharged from the navy when this happened

Lisa Nowak

• Was the reason NASA started more mental health projects
• Became a naval flight officer in 1987
• Nowak was assigned to be a aerospace engineer
• She operated the robotic arms on the ship Discovery
• After the kidnapping NASA fired Nowak

Mental Training

• A trip to mars could take over three years
• To avoid astronauts getting mental illness precautions are made
• There is no way to escape the craft or the other astronauts
• Anything can happen to make an astronaut snap
• Annoying habits, no other people, claustrophobic, fellow astronauts

Mental Training

• NASA spent 1.3 million dollars on mental training
• They created a badge that monitors astronaut mental health
• It can tell NASA the heart rate, conversation length
• Attitude, tone of voice, blood pressure, and vitals
• There haven't been any big psychological problems in space yet

Emergencies

• In the case of severe mental illness NASA
• has a computer therapist that is being designed
• The mission to mars will have this on the craft
• If they went without it the phone to NASA would
• Take 20 minutes to respond and by then who knows

Emergencies

• If an astronaut has an anxiety attack
• The fellow astronauts could be in danger
• The astronaut could open the airlock and kill
• The other astronauts or comprise the mission
• The person could kill themselves and crash the craft

Can this really happen

• I'm afraid this all is very true and possible
• Everybody wants to go to space but it's crazy
• Space madness is a good term but isn't true
• Space madness is the madness on earth just worst
• Knowing that you have to operate a machine perfectly

Can this really happen

• for years and if you mess up once you could kill
• yourself and at least two others or the fear
• of getting hit by a floating object or even getting
• stressed out by your fellow astronauts annoying
• habits or personality, it only takes one thing to ruin everything

What can NASA do

• NASA is going to pick certain astronauts for the
• Mission to Mars, they will pick people who are
• Mentally stable and can handle small spaces
• And the person must be able to listen to orders and
• not get angry or mad at a person

What can NASA do

• NASA has decided to hire psychologists
• For testing astronauts and NASA has made
• Simulations of deep space travel to help astronauts prepare
• NASA is working on how to get astronauts to admit of
• Anxiety, stress, or just being uncomfortable that's how it starts

Final note

• Overall the mental health of astronauts is very important
• If an incident happens it can destroy the whole entire mission
• Lisa Nowak made NASA look into mental health
• There have been no accidents in space so far
• But all it takes is a little stress and we will never get to Mars