Problems and possibilities of astronauts—Ground communication content analysis validity check

The analysis of space crew's communication with mission control (MC) is the standard operational procedure of the psychological support group in the Institute for Biomedical problems, Russia. For more than 20 years it is used for the monitoring of the behavioral health of Russian crewmembers in space. We apply quantitative speech content analysis to reveal relationship dynamics within the group and between the crew and MC. We suggest that the features of individual communicative style reflect psychological emotional status and individuality of communicator, his coping strategy, fixed by POMS. Moreover, the appearance of certain psychological complexities would become apparent both in POMS profile change and in communicative style change. As a result of the validity check we arrived to a new objective method of crews’ dynamic psychological monitoring. This method would not take any of astronauts’ time, would not need any on-board equipment, and at the same time it is based on real performance in space, i.e. astronauts communication with MC.