Voices of Spacefarers
Designing Space for Humans, With Humans
A Human-Centred Approach to Understanding Adaptation in Space Environments
Voices of Spacefarers (VoS) is a multidisciplinary initiative that documents, analyses, and amplifies the lived experiences of those involved in human space exploration. By collecting first-person narratives from spacefarers—individuals involved in spaceflights, regardless of their nationality or affiliated space agency—as well as mission support personnel, scientists, and analogue space participants, the project aims to uncover challenges and insights, often overlooked in technical reports and performance metrics, while exploring how individuals adapt to space environments.
These lived experiences offer vital insights that can deepen our understanding of the psychological, social, and operational dimensions of space missions, ultimately informing more human-centred design, training, and policy strategies. VoS offers a unique contribution by bridging space research, human factors, and ethnography, and turning experiential data into practical recommendations for future space programmes.
Our motto: “Designing Space for Humans, With Humans”
What Voices of Spacefarers Is Not
While Voices of Spacefarers draws from operational, scientific, and psychological domains, it is not a technical performance evaluation tool, a clinical trial, or a platform focused solely on astronaut training outcomes. It does not aim to replace existing spaceflight protocols or engineering assessments.
Instead, it complements them by capturing the lived, human experiences that are often underrepresented in traditional mission data. The project is not limited to government-led missions or elite astronaut crews—it seeks to include a broad spectrum of voices, from analogue participants and mission support staff to researchers and emerging commercial spacefarers.
Goals & Objectives
At the heart of Voices of Spacefarers lies a commitment to rethinking how we design and conduct human space missions—not just for, but with the people who live them. This section outlines the project’s core goals, which aim to integrate the human experience into every layer of space exploration. From capturing personal stories and enhancing psychological resilience, to improving human-system interaction and fostering co-creation, these objectives reflect a multidisciplinary effort to ensure that the future of space travel is not only technologically advanced, but also humane, inclusive, and adaptable. The insights gathered through VoS also extend beyond orbit, offering valuable applications for life on Earth in similarly extreme or remote environments.
Research Focus Areas
Understanding human space exploration requires looking beyond technology to the full spectrum of lived experience. VoS takes an expansive, interdisciplinary approach to investigate how people live, work, adapt, and thrive in space. The programme explores a wide range of themes—from technical systems and daily routines to sensory perception and team dynamics—across real missions and analogue environments. This depth of inquiry helps ensure that space missions are not only operationally sound, but also responsive to the cognitive, emotional, and social needs of those on board.
The programme covers diverse aspects of human space exploration and spans multiple settings, from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to planned deep space exploration:
- Technical aspects: spacesuits, EVAs, habitat design
- Daily life: food, hygiene, sleep, work, recreation
- Physiological and psychological adaptations: responses to space stressors (i.e., RIDGE)
- Analogue missions: Earth-based simulations of space environments
- Sensory inputs: effects on all sensory modalities
- Team dynamics: cultural blending, communication, conflict resolution
- Environmental hazards: radiation, altered gravity, isolation
In addition, to develop a truly comprehensive understanding of human adaptation to space environments, VoS brings together insights from a diverse set of research fields, including:
- Human Factors
- Aerospace Medicine
- Psychology
- Ethnography
- Sociology
- Anthropology
- History
- Architecture
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Collaborations
Are you an expert in a field not listed here but believe your perspective could strengthen our research?
We welcome your perspective—please contact us to explore collaboration opportunities.
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This project is related to the following NeurAstra SYSTEMS:
(S01) Blue Dot/White Tangerine
(S03) Specteore
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Our ethical clearance is provided by King’s College London Research Ethics Office (2025)