Society Track: Jeff Olenick, Michigan State University, Psychology: "Teams in space: Keeping relationships from turning ICE-y"

With the plans for a manned mission to Mars accelerating, it has become increasingly important that we understand the effects of deep space flight on astronaut crews and develop tools to support their team functioning. These flight crews will face three years of living in isolated, confined and extreme spaces, millions of miles from home, and the ability to function at a high level as a team will be critical to their success. To understand the effects of such environments on team functioning, we have been studying teams in analog extreme environments, such as Antarctica, or habitats designed to simulate the conditions of long-term space flight. In this presentation, we will provide an update on our research in these environments and some interesting preliminary findings regarding long term team functioning.