It could be described as something like MTV's The Real World -- Moscow.
Its the true story of 27 people from Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Austria and Canada picked to live together in isolation for up to eight months. And like a soap opera, what follows is a tale of intrigue, passion and fighting among astronauts. And as participants and researchers in experiment SFINCSS-99 found out, a utopian community is as out of reach as ever.
On March 22, Moscow's Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) completed SFINCSS-99 (the "Simulation of Flight of an International Crew in a Space Station") in an isolation chamber. The experiment began July 2nd, last year. Although the final results of the project are still not out, it's clear that a clash of languages, as well as cultural and gender differences made cohabitation stressful -- to the point of walkouts and violence. And the stress wasn't limited to crew members either.
According to Dr. Viktor Baranov who headed the project, "These were not just problems within crews but problems in relations between crews and support services, just as is the case during actual spaceflight."
However, Dr Baranov added that a benefit of the stress test was valuable research into cross-cultural and cross-gender issues that could arise on board the International Space Station.
Chivalry or sexism?
When it comes to relations between the sexes, one woman's insult is another woman's flattery. Dr. Tatiyana Agaptseva, a Russian physician, lived in the isolation chamber for a week. She had two male subordinates.
"I did not have any problems with the men in the chamber," Dr. Agaptseva told SPACE.com. "I would say that overall, a Russian woman cannot have any problem in the company of 10 men. Russian women know how to turn any situation to their own advantage. I would say that I am really sorry for women who are fighting for equality with men. Personally I liked the way I was discriminated in the chamber. Male [crew members] tried to ease my workload and tried to make my stay as comfortable as possible."
Canadian physician, Dr. Judith Lapierre, tells a different tale. She was in the chamber for 110 days. "Somebody pulled me by my arm and tried to kiss me. Of course, we are not talking about [rape], but for me it was a high level of sexual harassment and if women don't stand up, the next thing that happens is usually that. I pushed the guy, but then I was told that in Russia I just should just give him a slap in the face. However, it is not my way of handling such things."
Dr. Lapierre also recounted another incident which "changed the whole atmosphere in the chamber," leading one Japanese participant, who came as a test subject and not a scientist, to abandon ship entirely.
"He felt that his principles and values were more important than things in the isolation facility," said Dr. Lapierre. "He left because there was violence in the chamber and things that we, the scientists, did not expect to be tolerated."
In the end, Dr. Lapierre said, "I had lost my dreams about astronauts and cosmonauts who had always been heroes for me. Finally, I decided to stay not for my space agency, but just for myself. The crisis that we faced was related to human interactions, which is exactly what I am studying. We eventually reestablished relations and had a very good time afterwards. Even the crisis that we faced brought us closer together; and If you are going to send people on a Mars mission for three years, these human factors become very important."
According to Dr. Mark Belakovsky, head of international relations at IBMP, "the participants' safety has always been a priority to IBMP. We have documented in the SFINCSS protocol that each of the participants can leave the chamber anytime he or she wants without explaining the reasons for the departure."
"Somebody pulled me by my arm and tried to kiss me. Of course, we are not talking about (rape), but for me it was a high level of sexual harassment and if women don't stand up, the next thing that happens is usually that."
Norbert Kraft, an Austrian citizen working for the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), also reported problems. He took part because he wanted to "get the knowledge of what the astronauts were not telling. Everybody in these agencies wants everything they do to look beautiful. These astronauts know that if they say something negative, they will lose their chances to fly again because nobody in a space agency wants someone who will complain about anything," Kraft told SPACE.com. "The Japanese left because he was not dependent on a space agency. If I had left I would have lost my job."
A crackdown was called for by Kraft, and Lapierre agreed that there should be stricter rules to deal with harassment or violence in a confined environment. "People should not be allowed to use physical violence. It happened only once, but it was scary," said Lapierre.
Kraft went so far as to suggest that in the future, if a crew member misbehaves, then that person's space agency should have to pay to send a shuttle up to bring him or her back to Earth. That way, agencies might think twice about whom they select. He said that good English among crew members is a must and that psychological support must be available on board.
Both Dr. Lapierre and Kraft say volunteers should have received a better cross-cultural training for their participation in SFINCSS-99. The Russian participants generally agree but say this is only one side of the story. "[A] space station is an extraterritorial unity," Dr. Vasiliy Lukyanyuk, a commander of a crew that stayed 240 days in the chamber, told SPACE.com . "People onboard should not only be proficient in each others' culture but should also have a high degree of adaptability to views and values of their crew mates."
Dr. Anatoly Murashov, who was also in the chamber for 240 days, is convinced that "whatever happened between a man and a woman inside the chamber had nothing to do with libido ... it had a cross-cultural, not sexual nature. I believe that it would make sense to conduct one more experiment, this time with more thoroughly prepared participants to see whether the same problems would happen again."
The IBMP says it plans to continue its research activities. Whether astronauts in confinement can put their differences aside and start communicating is anyone's guess. What the experiment did demonstrate is that astronauts, like the rest of us, are only human.