Chris Hadfield explains how astronauts cope with self isolation - Telegraph Media interview — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:00I think the life of self-isolation
3. 0:04is sort of now a little appetizer for
4. 0:07everybody who's doing it of what the
5. 0:08life of an astronaut is actually like
6. 0:10you wake up you spend your entire day
7. 0:12and you go to bed all within the
8. 0:13confines of the same walls that's not
9. 0:16normal for most people there is a
10. 0:18prevalent surrounding danger and a
11. 0:21threat to your existence
12. 0:22that's not normal people normally don't
13. 0:25feel that way the people that you are
14. 0:27with are not about to change they are
15. 0:29who they are and and you need to build a
16. 0:32crew from those people
17. 0:33so maybe shift your own perception stop
18. 0:36thinking of yourself as someone who is
19. 0:38cooped up and trapped at home with
20. 0:40people you wouldn't normally spend time
21. 0:42with and instead say I have a crew I
22. 0:45have a spaceship I have a we have a
23. 0:47common purpose and a common enemy and we
24. 0:50need to adjust what's happening to
25. 0:51emerge out of this victorious and that's
26. 0:54how we work in a spaceship we do well as
27. 0:57human beings with with a pattern and and
28. 1:01so give yourself that on a spaceship
29. 1:02you've got Mission Control telling you
30. 1:04what to do every down to five minute
31. 1:06increments start breaking your day up
32. 1:09into chunks you know okay from 9:00 to
33. 1:1211:00 I'm gonna do this I've got to do
34. 1:15this from 12:00 to 1:00 I've got to do
35. 1:17this at 7:00 a.m. whatever and you come
36. 1:19in at the end of the day with a little
37. 1:20bit of self pride and I think that helps
38. 1:23don't try and just import an unsuitable
39. 1:25pattern into a different set of
40. 1:27circumstances and expect it to work like
41. 1:29normal you have to make some adjustments
42. 1:32most of the adjustments start with
43. 1:34yourself and that's true for spaceship
44. 1:36crews as well some crews do not
45. 1:39naturally get along they're not people
46. 1:41that would normally be friends
47. 1:44but they find a way to fly one of the
48. 1:47most dangerous vehicles in the world
49. 1:48dock with the space station and stay
50. 1:50there for six months and be productive
51. 1:52we banned some types of fish on the
52. 1:56space station because it's a stink so
53. 1:57bad and no one else can hide from from
54. 1:59the smell so think about your own
55. 2:02actions but also allow other people to
56. 2:05have their own room
57. 2:06you've got to get through this together
58. 2:08there is a very clear common purpose to
59. 2:10this and that is to not let the
60. 2:13rapid onset of kovat overwhelm our
61. 2:15medical system and I think having that
62. 2:16sense of purpose is really important in
63. 2:20order to maintain your psychological
64. 2:21well-being
65. 2:22how do you stay productive and
66. 2:23psychologically healthy in amongst a
67. 2:26great disruption and kind of a feeling
68. 2:29of derailed helplessness and and I think
69. 2:32it's important to focus on that that
70. 2:34common purpose for being there you need
71. 2:37to find a way to just accept this new
72. 2:42norm and and find a way to stay healthy
73. 2:45during on a spaceship we exercise two
74. 2:47hours a day and and you don't go outside
75. 2:49to exercise you know you just use
76. 2:50equipment in there you don't need to go
77. 2:52to a gym to stay in shape just do some
78. 2:54jumping jacks while you're watching a
79. 2:56Netflix you know if you do jumping jacks
80. 2:58for 30 minutes that'll be good for your
81. 3:00heart your bones just do 15 push-ups
82. 3:03before every shower or or just pick up
83. 3:06something to pick up two cans of beans
84. 3:07and just push them up above your head
85. 3:09you know while you're sitting there
86. 3:10relaxing when you come back to earth at
87. 3:12the end of this particular mission you
88. 3:14want to have a healthy strong body you
89. 3:17don't want to emerge from your
90. 3:18hibernation cave looking more like a
91. 3:20polar bear than Yahtzee people been
92. 3:22talking a lot about Mars and you know
93. 3:25should we settle Mars and what's it
94. 3:27going to be like for the first
95. 3:27astronauts on Mars everybody's getting a
96. 3:30little taste right now just how isolated
97. 3:33it would be to be part of that crew that
98. 3:35lands on Mars you might want to rethink
99. 3:37where they want to be that first Martian
100. 3:39astronaut or not have a look at that
101. 3:40habitat think about the reality of it
102. 3:43based on your recent experience and then
103. 3:45maybe maybe decide if you want to be the
104. 3:48first person on Mars or not