Abstract
Traditionally, the subject of this chapter would be expressed as the usual question: Should the space program be manned or unmanned? The traditional way of asking this question is both sexist and misleading. Human beings play an essential role in any space mission, whether or not the mission involves astronauts in space. There is no such thing as an “unmanned” space mission, because humans control and interact with the machines we put in space in a growing variety of ways. The focus of this chapter is really on the variety of roles that people can play in the space program, particularly people who actually travel into space. So far, humans have been spacecraft operators and controllers, test objects, pilots, scientist-explorers, experimenters, repairers, symbols, and ambassadors. Soon to appear will be space travel writers (a role that will include the teachers and journalists) and builders. In the longer run, we can see people as tourists, and possibly even as colonists. Studies of the human response to the zero-gravity environment show no fundamental limitations on what humans can do in space in the short run, though there may be some effects that will limit long-duration existence in space (such as would be required for a human expedition to Mars).
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Reference Notes
Stephen B. Hall, ed., The Human Role in Space (Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Publications, 1985); published by arrangement with NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center.
M. Smith, “The Evolving Role of Man in Space,” in Theodore R. Simpson, eds., The Space Station: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (New York: IEEE Press, 1985), 3–31; talk to the 1983 meeting of the AAAS, available on tapes AAAS83–17 and -18. Many of the roles discussed in this chapter are roles Smith identified, though I have added a few in considering the future.
James E. Oberg and Alcestis R. Oberg, Pioneering Space: Living on the Next Frontier (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986), 41–62.
Joseph P. Allen with Russell Martin, Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Odyssey, 2nd ed. (New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, 1985).
James E. Oberg, Red Star in Orbit (New York: Random House, 1981), 183–201.
S. Matsunaga, The Mars Project: Journeys beyond the Cold War (New York: Hill & Wang, 1986), 164.
Kerry Mark Joels and Gregory P. Kennedy, The Space Shuttle Operator’s Manual (New York: Ballantine Books, 1982), 6.2–6.6); Oberg, 99–102.
J. Flinn, Wilmington Morning News, 29 March 1986; S. Nichols, Wilmington Sunday News-Journal, (31 August 1986): G2.
G. K. O’Neill, “The Colonization of Space,” Physics Today (September 1974): 32–40.
See Gerard K. O’Neill, The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space (New York: Morrow, 1976);
O’Neill, 2081: A Hopeful View of the Future (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981);
T. A. Heppenheimer, Colonies in Space (Harrisburg, PA: Stakpole Books, 1977);
Richard D. Johnson and Charles Holbrow, eds., Space Settlements: A Design Study, NASA SP-413 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1977);
Gerard O’Neill, John Billingham, Brian O’Leary, and Beulah Gossett, eds., Space Resources and Space Settlements, NASA SP-428 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1979).
A discussion of the merits of various proposed colony locations is contained in Heppenheimer, 109–113.
For costs of the colony, see NASA SP-413, pp. 139–153.
For a guarded, but generally skeptical, view of the solar-power satellite system, see U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Solar Power Satellites (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1981). The comparison of the efficiencies of terrestrial and space solar generators is on p. 128; the environmental hazards are reviewed in Chapter 8.
James A. Van Allen, “Myths and Realities of Space Right,” Science 232, (30 May 1986): 1075–1076; for letters, see Science 233, (8 August 1986): 610–611. An earlier reference to Van Allen’s views in contrast with my own is given in Chapter 2 of this book.
S. E. Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea (Boston: Little, Brown, 1942).
F. Dyson, Disturbing the Universe (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), 118–126.
Recall Chapter 2.
Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff (New York: Bantam, 1983), Ch. 4.
A summary of physiological responses to spaceflight is given in Arnauld E. Nicogossian and James F. Parker, Space Physiology and Medicine, NASA SP-447 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1982), 127–139.
Nicogossian and Parker, 206.
Michael Modell and Jack M. Spurlock, “Rationale for Evaluating a Closed Food Chain for Space Habitats,” in T. Stephen Cheston and David L. Winter, eds., Human Factors of Outer Space Production (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1980), AAAS Selected Symposium Series, Vol. 50, pp. 134–142.
Harlan F. Brose, “Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) Design Optimization Approach,” in Mireille Gerard and Pamela W. Edwards, eds., Space Station: Policy, Planning, and Utilization (New York: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1983), 191.
Quoted in Oberg and Oberg, 129.
Oberg and Oberg, Ch. 12.
See Yvonne Clearwater, “A Human Place in Outer Space,” Psychology Today 19, no. 7 (July 1985): 34–43;
Mary M. Connors, Albert A. Harrison, and Faren R. Akins, Living Aloft: Human Requirements for Extended Spaceflight, NASA SP-483 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1985).
D. Kent, personal interview, 14 May 1986.
Connors et ai, 152.
Clearwater, 43.
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© 1987 Harry L. Shipman
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Shipman, H.L. (1987). The Human Roles in Space. In: Space 2000. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6054-2_13
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