When humans return to the Moon under Nasa’s Artemis programme, the challenge will extend far beyond landing safely on its surface. Astronauts will have to survive and function in one of the most hostile and isolating environments known, coping with confinement, extreme conditions and prolonged separation from Earth. Experts say success will depend as much on psychological resilience and teamwork as on physical fitness or engineering skill.
“Space is really challenging. It’s harder than it looks, and we don’t say that often enough,” says Nasa astronaut Victor Glover, who is set to pilot Artemis II, the first crewed Orion mission to travel beyond the Moon. Speaking ahead of the mission, Glover highlighted the unforgiving realities of deep-space travel, where resources are finite and even basic daily activities can become major stressors. Water, food and oxygen are limited, with no possibility of emergency resupply, and astronauts will spend days in a cramped, pressurised capsule with no privacy.
For Glover and his three crewmates, the 10-day Artemis II mission will serve as a crucial test run for future lunar expeditions. He notes that simple actions, such as using the hygiene compartment, can disrupt the entire crew due to noise and lack of space. These conditions, he says, demand a different level of psychological preparation than most people expect.
Artemis II marks the beginning of a longer-term plan to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, including the construction of a base near the lunar south pole. Future crews will spend months in isolation, living just days away from Earth, enduring two-week-long lunar nights, extreme temperature swings, high radiation levels and a barren, airless landscape outside. Selecting the right people for such missions has therefore become a complex and exacting process.
According to Sergi Vaquer Araujo, who leads the European Space Agency’s space medicine team, modern astronaut selection is no longer about finding superhuman individuals who excel in a single domain. Instead, agencies are searching for people who perform well across multiple areas. Certain medical conditions, such as asthma, heart irregularities or colour blindness, can still disqualify candidates due to the limited medical support available in space, but physical fitness alone is no longer the defining factor.
Psychological suitability and interpersonal skills now play a central role. Early astronauts were often hyper-competitive test pilots, admired for their bravery but not always suited to prolonged confinement with others. Today, cooperation, adaptability and emotional intelligence are seen as essential. During recent ESA selection rounds, candidates were assessed on how well they supported team success, even at the expense of their own individual performance.
Insights into coping with isolation also come from Earth’s most remote environments. British surgeon Nina Purvis recently spent an Antarctic winter at the Concordia research station, one of the most isolated places on the planet. With just 12 others and no sunlight for months, she experienced conditions often compared to those on Mars or the Moon. The station operates autonomously for most of the year, with limited medical resources and no possibility of evacuation.
Purvis says that beyond handling stress and uncertainty, being pleasant and cooperative is critical in such environments. Research at Concordia has shown that boredom and monotony can be as challenging as danger, prompting studies into activities that improve mental wellbeing. Group exercises such as yoga, creative tasks and mindfulness sessions have been found to help maintain morale and resilience.
As space agencies prepare for humanity’s return to the Moon, these lessons underline a key reality: thriving on the lunar surface will require astronauts who are not only technically capable, but also mentally robust, adaptable and deeply attuned to the needs of those around them.
