AN OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL ISSUES IN ASTRONAUT PSYCHOLOGICAL SELECTION

The NASA Johnson Space Center Medical Sciences Division convened an In -House Working Group on Psychiatric and Psychological Selection of Ast ronauts in 1988. Working with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan, psychiatrists and psychologists experienced in selecting individuals for training as ast ronauts or analogous duties studied the development of appropriate cri teria. Psychiatric criteria generally concern the detection of patholo gical conditions, and thus ''select-out'' applicants by disqualificati on. Psychological criteria may be used to identify specific affirmativ e criteria that make an individual particularly well-qualified for suc h duties, and thus concern ''select-in'' processes for operational cre ws. As space missions grow longer, and as crews become larger and more demographically diversified, the long-ignored questions, ''What sort of healthy individuals should be selected for such missions,'' and ''H ow do we know this?'' will become more critical to the success of spac e exploration. The papers Included in this Panel concern the results o f these investigations, and represent long-needed quantification of th ese two selection processes, select-out and select-in, in several cult ures.