The sight of the entire Earth, visible to the naked eye, has had a profound effect on those who have seen it. Astronaut William McCool described it as “beyond imagination”, and many have written how space flight permanently altered how they saw their place in the universe.
For mission control, the wonder of space must seem like something of a distraction as they focus on the psychological health of their astronauts working in a high-pressure, high-risk environment, 420km (260 miles) above the Earth’s surface. These day-to-day stresses can be equally as life-changing and Nasa consider behavioural and psychiatric conditions to be one of the most significant risks to the integrity of the mission – not least as there is now significant evidence that space travel has mind-altering effects.
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