Psychologists Help Crew on Space Station

Astronauts’ sense of loss amplified in space.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – Mental health counselors on the ground have helped the three-member crew aboard the international space station deal with their grief following the Columbia disaster, the crew’s commander said Thursday.

“One thing we talked a little about is standard grief responses and the types of emotion you might feel,” American astronaut Kenneth Bowersox said during a broadcast interview.

The space station crew, which also includes American Donald Pettit and Russian Nikolai Budarin, has planned sessions with the psychological support team on a regular basis, Bowersox said.

In an interview last week, the astronauts said their emotions over the loss of their seven friends on Columbia seem to be amplified in orbit because of the sense of solitude.

The crew had been scheduled to return to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis next month. But all shuttle flights are on indefinite hold while an investigation tries to determine the cause of the Columbia breakup on Feb. 1.

For now, Bowersox said, crew members are enjoying their stay in space, and especially like looking down at Earth. They were able to see the snowfall that covered most of the eastern United States earlier this week.

“We saw a lot of snow on the East Coast yesterday when we were looking down trying to take pictures,” Bowersox said. “It looks like you guys were still digging out.”

Bowersox said he and his crew are prepared to stay in orbit as long as necessary, even up to a year. The space station is equipped with a three-man lifeboat at all times, and NASA is considering having them return in it, if their replacements arrive via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

If the crew is required to return in the Soyuz, they will have training sessions with specialists on the ground “to make sure our skills are beefed up a little more than they are now,” Bowersox said.

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