Living and Working in Space

Johannes Kepler wrote about the possibility of living and working in Space in the early 1600s, but it wasn’t until Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into Space that the possibility of living beyond our planet really materialised. In the six and a half decades since, roughly 700 people have 'visited' Space, just 12 people have walked on the moon, and presently a handful of people are living and working in Space aboard the International Space Station 400km above the Earth. There is undoubtedly much we can learn from these experiences and what they mean for our human Space future.

There is also much to learn from the wider infrastructure of Space-related eco-systems which are becoming increasingly relevant as the number of people travelling to and spending time in Space is expanding. The first multinational companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have begun to offer 'Space Tourism' as an adventure holiday experience for the ultra-wealthy. As more habitable orbital platforms are built, and humans potentially return to the Moon, living and working in Space will be open to more to more parts of society.

At the same time, the global economy and society at large are increasingly dependent on Space infrastructures to support almost every aspect of our daily lives on Earth, whether it be businesses, agriculture, technologies, service communications, transport and navigation systems, supply chains or weather forecasting. Space is already central to humanity.

Accordingly, the objectives of this strand are to: better understand the human challenges of living and working in the extreme environment of Space, and better understand the wider implications for life and work, EDI and Responsible Research and Innovation practices on Earth of a growing reliance upon Space technologies. Therefore, the strand looks at the following key questions:

• What are the socio-technical and socio-cognitive processes involved in living and working in Space? How can we ensure that technology is designed around human ergonomics as well as scientific requirements?
• What are the behavioural and work performance requirements in space explorations as precursors for human settlements in Space? What can we learn from the experiences of previous Western astronauts, Russian cosmonauts, Chinese taikonauts and the one (so far) Indian vyomanaut? What are the psychosocial concerns in space exploration?
• How do we ensure that opportunities for life and work in Space are open to all? What policies and practices are being created or developed ensuring accessibility to space and wider space ecosystem(s)? What does the mean for gender balances?
• What are the requirements of a diverse, inclusive and accessible Space work-life environment? Does this differ from the requirements on Earth? How can we make sure that the opportunities of living and working in Space are open to all?
• Is Space tourism sustainable? Is it right that a small group of very wealthy individuals are likely to create environmental damage from launches and create more space debris, while unlikely to push the technological boundaries for other applications?

The strand draws together mixed methods from socio-cognitive behavioural research, user experience research practices and digital twinning, as well as including ethnographic, survey- and interview-based sociological methods. Bringing together these methods will facilitate methodologically innovative research, both within and beyond the laboratory to understand practices of work and experiences of life in-and through-Space.