Psychological and sociological effects of space flight are important to understanding how to successfully achieve the goals of long-duration expeditionary missions. Although robotic spacecraft have landed on Mars, plans have also been discussed for a human expedition, perhaps in the 2030s,[1] for a return mission.
A Mars return expedition may last two to three years[2] and may involve a crew of four to seven people, although shorter flyby missions of approximately 1+1⁄2 years with only two people have been proposed,[3] as well as one-way missions that include landing on Mars with no return trip planned.[4][5] Although there are a number of technological and physiological issues involved with such a mission that remain to be worked out, there are also a number of behavioral issues affecting the crew that are being addressed before launching such missions. In preparing for such an expedition, important psychological, interpersonal, and psychiatric issues occurring in human spaceflight missions are under study by national space agencies and others.
^Kanas, Nicholas; Manzey, D. (2008). Space Psychology and Psychiatry (2nd ed.). El Segundo, California, and Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Microcosm Press and Springer.