Suborbital SFP Anxiety Assessment

There exists a great deal of information regarding well-trained pilot and astronaut performance in high-stress environments including spaceflight. It is well known that psychological stressors can be significant challenges in the operational environment, and even highly-trained individuals, such as military pilots and astronauts, occasionally experience debilitating anxiety or other psychological difficulties. These challenges are likely to be even more prevalent in commercial spaceflight participants, where training is minimal and participants may not be psychologically prepared for the stress of a flight. Based on prior work at the NASTAR Center, it has become evident that centrifuge training is enough of a stressor to elicit significant psychological responses in some individuals, and that anxiety regarding operational activities such as centrifuge training or spaceflight can be significant enough to disrupt schedules and operations, impacting both the affected participant and those around them. However, further research is needed to identify the most effective means to screen individuals to identify those most likely to experience an adverse psychological response as well as the most effective means of training individuals to prepare them for the stressors of flight.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Program Information: Center of Excellence, CoE

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Contract Numbers:

  10-C-CST-UTMB-31

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Aviation Administration

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20591
• Project Managers:

  Davidian, Ken

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Texas Medical Branch

  301 University Boulevard
  Galveston, TX  United States  77555-0144
• Principal Investigators:

  Vanderploeg, Jim

• Start Date: 20140701
• Expected Completion Date: 20150817
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Anxiety; Commercial space transportation; Evaluation and assessment; Human factors; Pilotage; Psychological aspects; Screenings; Training simulators
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Education and Training; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01575519
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 10-C-CST-UTMB-31
• Files: RIP, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 3 2015 10:29AM