The trials of the modern-day astronaut

[Still Waters]

Origami, 'non-sweat' underpants and nauseating sherry: in her new book, 'Packing for Mars', Mary Roach explains why today's astronauts have to be more than just heroes.

First you remove your shoes, as you would upon entering a Japanese home.You are given a pair of special isolation chamber slippers, light blue vinyl imprinted with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency logo, the letters JAXA leaning forward as though rushing into space at terrific speed.

The isolation chamber, a free-standing structure inside building C-5 at Jaxa’s headquarters in Tsukuba Science City, is in fact a home of sorts, for one week, for the 10 finalists competing for two openings in the Japanese astronaut corps. Five closed circuit cameras mounted near the ceiling allow a panel of psychiatrists, psychologists and Jaxa managers to observe the applicants. Their behaviour and the panel’s impressions of them will determine which two will wear Jaxa spacesuits instead of slippers.

The idea is to get a better sense of who these men and women are, and how well they’re suited to life in space. An intelligent, highly motivated person can hide undesirable facets of his or her character in an interview or on a questionnaire, but not so easily under a weeklong observation. In the words of Jaxa psychologist Natsuhiko Inoue: ‘It’s difficult to be a good man always.’

Isolation chambers are also a way to judge things like teamwork, leadership, and conflict management – group skills that can't be assessed in an interview.

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