ANTICIPATING THE ASTRONAUT
Who can go to space? Anticipating the Astronaut examines the early history of space medicine, the field devoted to selecting and caring for humans bound for space. A decade before NASA was founded, space medicine research began in the U.S. military with doctors and psychologists conducting studies, simulations, and expeditions aimed at understanding the limits and capabilities of the human body in space. Each chapter focuses on a different nearly-forgotten type of test-subject contributing to early visions of an ideal spacefaring body, including push-button soldiers, high-altitude Indigenous people, women pilots, mountaineers, and animals. At the center of this history is the fundamental question: Who can go to space? (Anticipating the Astronaut is under contract to The MIT Press).
Listen: Big Brains - Episode 75 (UChicago Podcast Network)
PUTTING MARS IN A JAR
What’s inside a Mars jar? Putting Mars in a Jar explores the forgotten military origin of astrobiology, the field searching for life beyond the Earth. Many assume that research on potential extraterrestrial biology began at NASA in the 1960s. But a little-known military program started in the early 1950s created tiny simulations of extreme Martian conditions inside air-tight enclosures, which they called Mars jars. My project “follows the Mars jars” from their Cold War military origin into their wide use by civilian NASA scientists including Carl Sagan for research, training, and public relations. So what’s inside a Mars jar? As it turns out, much more than simulated regolith, thin CO2, and hardy microbes. Every miniature world contains a grand vision of who and what the Red Planet is for.
Read: The New York Times: “The Doctor From Nazi Germany and the Search for Life on Mars” by Sarah Scoles
RETHINKING THE OVERVIEW EFFECT
Does viewing the Earth from space cause a positive mental shift? Many astronauts and space advocates believe the so-called “overview effect” is a naturally occurring phenomenon and a sign from the universe to colonize the cosmos. By historicizing key components of the overview effect idea including the sublime, manifest destiny, and spaceship earth, as well as pointing out social pressures on astronauts to suppress negative mental experiences, I highlight its origins and dangers. Not only are we missing out on the richness of other experiences of space, astronauts experiencing mental health issues might not report them if they contradict the overview narrative.
Read: Rethinking the Overview Effect (article) (Winner of the Sacknoff Prize for Space History)
Watch: Rethinking the Overview Effect (video lecture) (Presentation to the Future In-Space Operations telecon, summer 2021)