I don't know if the GI comparision works -- as I said before, people in situations like that are surrounded by lots of other people. A better comparision might be the crew on a submarine -- which stays under for months at a time -- and manages to work together well. But that is in part because of a military culture and indoctrination process -- I mean there is a reason these guys all train for months together. I am not sure that model works for scientific missions, at least in its raw form.

I mean lets face it, air travel for 16 hours to Tokyo is boring enough. Gad, I do not know what I would do for six months in a similar-sized space, even if it is with only a few other people and there i lots of room. I mean, let's face it, those six months in transit are going to be boring as hell -- how many measurements of the interplanetary medium and observations can you make? Longer missions are even worse. (Though if you could rig up a strong reciever to pick up some TV that would help a lot). 1,000 square feet isn't that much by the way, (it's about the size of my apartment) but the prospect of getting more space in a forseeable future would mitigate that.

Again I stress that I don't think this is a sinker for a mission of any stripe. Nor do I think they will be reduced to drooling idiots or kill each other. I just think it's worth thinking about, especially when we talk about longer-duration trips, as some are inevitable. Again, I refer to Robinson's book -- he talks about the problem of double binds that such a mission puts you in. (You have to be focused enough to be excellent in your field to get picked, but such people tend to be really bad at working with others, for instance). I am not sure test-pilot types would be good for this, for example.

It sounds like the Russians would probably have the most and best experience for this kind of stuff, no? My favorite remark, perhaps apocryphal, was from a Russian cosmonaut who thought the ban on booze in space was ludicrous. Maybe they have the right idea.

Anyway, it was just a thought.