Two astronauts stranded in space may sound like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster, but for two NASA crew members, it is now a reality. Commander Barry Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams are currently in limbo on the International Space Station (ISS).
They arrived on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft - the spacecraft's first test with astronauts. Wilmore and Williams were supposed to stay on the ISS for about eight days and return on the same spacecraft. But Starliner's safety is now in question after it suffered helium leaks and problems with its booster rocket en route to the ISS.
In the coming days, NASA and Boeing could decide to give Starliner permission to bring the astronauts back to Earth. That means their stay might not last much longer. But if authorities decide against Starliner, the astronauts would have to wait another six months in space before returning. So how will astronauts cope with a potential six-month wait for a ride home?
Waiting for things is hard at best. Under normal circumstances, it's frustrating, stressful, and anxiety-inducing. But in extreme situations, with high stakes, waiting can be a purgatory.
Part of the reason waiting is hard is that it distorts our sense of time. Think about the last time you waited for a delayed train, test results, or a text from a potential new partner. Did it fly by or drag on? For most people, the time they spend waiting creeps by at a glacial pace. As a result, delays and periods of anticipation often feel much longer than they actually are.
Waiting slows down our perception of time, because it changes the amount of time we spend thinking about time. During normal daily life, we often ignore time; our brains have a limited capacity. If time is not important, we simply do not think about it, and this helps it pass quickly.
When we wait, our need to know when the wait is over increases to the extent that we think about time. This 'watching the clock' can make the minutes and hours seem to pass at a snail's pace. Stress, discomfort and pain amplify this effect, meaning that waiting in difficult situations can seem even longer.
Waiting also slows down our perception of time, because it is what we do and how we feel. Normal life is busy and full of constantly changing activities and interactions. The sudden need to wait stops the flow of life, often leaving us with nothing else to do, which increases the level of boredom and frustration.
In general, time spent doing something passes more quickly. We all got a taste of this during COVID lockdowns. Stuck indoors, unable to see friends or engage in normal daily activities, the loss of routine and distractions made time drag on for many.
For the astronauts trapped on the ISS, anxiety about when they will return, limited options for activities, and fewer opportunities to connect with friends and family make the wait to go home seem significantly longer than six months - if it ever comes to that.
As academics who study the effects of time on human psychology and biology, our new, soon-to-be-published study of crew members at research stations in Antarctica aims to understand whether waiting in extreme conditions is different from waiting in normal, everyday life.
A year in Antarctica
While being stuck on the ISS for six months may sound like the worst nightmare for many people, it's not uncommon for scientists to spend long periods of time isolated and locked in extreme environments. Every year, organizations like the Instituto Antártico Argentino (which uses the Belgrano II Antarctic station), the French Polar Institute, and the Italian Antarctic Program, in partnership with the European Space Agency (all of which use the Concordia Antarctic station), send crews of humans for up to 16 months to conduct research on the frozen continent.
During the Arctic winter from March to October, teams spend six months in near-darkness - and from May to August in complete darkness - with outside temperatures as low as -60C, winds of 160 km/h (100 mph) and storms that prevent almost all outdoor activities. Limited internet coverage can also prevent constant communication with the outside world.
Over the past year, we've been investigating how living in Antarctica affects people's perception of time. Every month, we asked crew members how time passed compared to before their mission. Stuck on base, with limited contact with the outside world, you might expect time to drag on. Our results suggest the opposite may be true.
Analysis of crew members' experiences indicated that being constantly occupied with complex tasks such as scientific research helped the time pass quickly, according to 80% of crew responses. Only 3% of responses indicated that time actually dragged on, and these reports occurred when nights were long and there was little to do.
These experiences may offer hope to those trapped on the ISS. Much like life on an Antarctic station, these NASA astronauts have busy and mentally demanding lives. These factors may help make time pass more quickly.
A key factor in their wait, however, may be their ability to tolerate the uncertainty of when they will return. Wilmore and Williams will spend their time in a space similar to the inside of a Boeing 747 airplane. But better information about "when" things will happen and "why" delays occur could help people tolerate waiting and reduce its impact on their well-being.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Ruth Ogden receives funding from The British Academy, The Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, CHANSE and Horizon 2020. This piece was written as part of the Wellcome Trust Project "After the End" 225238/Z/22/Z. The work reported in this article was in collaboration with ESA and IIA as part of the SPACE-TIME project. Daniel Vigo is a Research Career Award winner of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and a senior professor at the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA). The work described in this article is carried out as part of a collaboration between UCA, CONICET, the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA), the Joint Antarctic Command and the Health Coordination of the Ministry of Defense, under an agreement signed by the European Space Agency (ESA), the IAA and the National Commission on Space Activities (CONAE).