ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the history of astronaut and cosmonaut selection, and discusses how the process of psychological assessment is related to the overall selection strategy. Current practices in selecting and training of long duration crews are also presented, along with a discussion of issues relevant to future research and astronaut selection for longer duration lunar and interplanetary missions. The decision to consider only military test pilots for the first NASA astronauts had several implications for future astronaut selection and training. The grounding of the shuttle fleet following the loss of the Columbia in February of 2003 is further reduced when the International Space Station (ISS) crew compliment will be increased. Aviation is one of the most obvious analogue environments for the conduct of psychological research relevant to astronaut performance and selection, and the work of Helmreich, Chidester and others that figures so prominently in current selection strategies is based largely upon studies of airline pilot performance.
