The Longest Goodbye

Space is by no means a friendly place to live and our dreamt-of spaceflight will encounter major pitfalls, especially in terms of the effects on the human body and its psyche. A flight to Mars, for example, will take at least nine months. The isolated environment and severely limited social contact will be a major stress test for astronauts.

Psychologists will be tasked with preparing the crew of the longest space mission in the history of astronautics for conditions no human has ever encountered. The astronauts will experience prolonged separation from our home planet but most importantly from family, friends and all the comforts of life that our planet Earth provides. Despite the use of state-of-the-art technology in interplanetary flights, the success of the missions will depend mainly on the people themselves and their mental health.