The Limits of Astronauts

As the Skylab astronauts completed their 43rd day in space at week's end, they were still healthy and cheerful. Officials were elated. If the astronauts remained in good health and readjusted well to the earth's gravity on their return, said NASA Administrator James Fletcher, then "we've come a long way" toward proving that man can physically endure even the projected two-year Mars mission. But one group of experts remained doubtful about the prospects for longer manned flights. They were NASA's Navy consultants, who have spent years studying the psychological effects of lengthy confinement on U.S. nuclear-submarine crews. If man remains in space much longer than the 59 days that the astronauts are scheduled to spend aboard Skylab, the Navy psychologists told TIME correspondents last week, he may well reach the limits of his ability to endure isolation from the sights and sounds of his normal world.

Shrimp Noises. Even in a craft as large as Skylab, the Navy consultants say, astronauts feel the same "stimulus impoverishment" as submariners. Consciously and unconsciously, they miss such familiar sights as trees, animals and sunrises. "There is nothing that lives or grows," says Submarine Medical Officer William Tansey. "It is all flashing lights, air conditioning and bells. You lose your grasp on the real world." One result aboard submarines on long missions is that sailors vie for space in the sonar room to hear the mating calls of whales or swimming noises of shrimp.

Sub crews also suffer from severe paranoia. Constantly aware of the Thresher and Scorpion disasters, they sometimes become obsessed by the danger of the crushing pressure of the sea around them; when that happens, submariners often prowl about the craft hunting for leaks in the 6-in.-thick steel hull. Crewmen also begin to worry inordinately about friends and relatives on shore. The Navy tries to soothe their fears with "familygrams"--radioed messages received when the sub surfaces. But that strategy sometimes backfires. One man learned halfway through a cruise that his six-year-old son had been seriously injured in a car accident; he had to be sedated until he reached shore. On the other hand, word that his four-year-old son had been run over was withheld from another submariner; he was so enraged when he finally learned about the accident that he threatened to kill a Navy officer.

Soon after their voyage begins, more than 50% of submariners begin sleeping from twelve to 16 hours a day --simply to escape boredom. At the same time, sexual frustrations begin to increase. X-rated movies attract capacity crowds, and "crotch novels" pass quickly from hand to hand. Says Psychologist Benjamin Weybrew of the Naval Submarine Medical Center in Groton, Conn.: "The pornographic route has probably served a useful purpose." Some behaviorists even advocate pornographic libraries for each submarine to help alleviate tension.

Navy psychologists also note that submariners tend to "burn out" during a four-year hitch--although they make only two cruises (each lasting two or three months at the longest) a year, only 20% sign up for more. The Navy experts have doubts that the submarine crews could endure missions of much longer than three months without suffering serious psychological difficulties.

Still, these apparent limitations may not apply as fully to spaceflight. In the first place, a spacecraft has an all-important window, which Skylab Astronaut Pete Conrad singled out for praise after his 28-day mission; through it, the astronauts can see familiar constellations and look back at the earth. Then there is the possibility that long-distance flights may include women in the crew.

Finally, and perhaps most important, the astronauts, unlike submariners bound by orders for radio silence, are able to talk freely with earthlings. "The fact that astronauts can communicate with the outside world," says Dr. Weybrew, "may be what holds them together in the long run."

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