Astronaut Ethnography Project
Project Lead / Design Researcher (2020 - Present)
Our journeys off-world have taught us just as much about humanity as the harsh environment of space. For the past 20 years, we have had a continuous presence aboard the International Space Station, which has expanded our technical, biological, and operational knowledge of living and working in microgravity. We have also developed a wealth of more personal insights about space from the lived experiences of the astronauts and cosmonauts who have called the ISS home.
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless performs the first untethered, free-flight spacewalk in 1984
As one of the main research streams of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, the Astronaut Ethnography Project captures and distills experiences from spacefaring humans alive today. It aims to provide an ethnographic understanding of culture aboard the ISS, as well as a series of design insights to inspire future engineering, policy, and design. Through interviews with 25+ astronauts, cosmonauts, and spaceflight participants — as well as analysis of primary source accounts, video, and photographic documentation of space environments — this project aims to present embodied, human-centered insights about how humans work, play, and reflect on Earth from space. As the nature of life in space changes to include more diverse crews and missions, we can learn much from how today’s spacefarers adapt to the challenges of microgravity when imaging the future.
The Astronaut Ethnography Web Project
In addition to academic research, the Astronaut Ethnography team has preserved the anecdotes, stories, and individual insights collected from its research through an open source web database. Informed by archival research, primary source accounts, and astronaut interviews, this platform presents a curated collection of perspectives on life in space from a diverse group of astronauts, cosmonauts, and spaceflight participants. Its goal is to reach a broad audience of people interested in envisioning the future of space — designers, researchers, engineers, and policy makers, presenting multiple pathways to learn from today’s spacefaring humans to imagine the future of life in space.
Recent Publications
Astronaut Ethnography: A Design Research Approach to Microgravity (IAC 2020)
Astronaut-in-the-Loop: An Iterative Design Research Framework for Space Environments (ICES 2021)
The Astronaut Ethnography Web Project: Insights from First-Person Accounts of Space (IAC 2022)
This research project is ongoing, with periodic updates released in tandem with academic publications. Please contact me to learn more about this research.