Your work is dangerous and your coworkers rely on you to stay alive. But you can never get far from those colleagues. You can’t see your family for months, even years. The food isn’t great. And forget stepping out for some fresh air. No wonder the adventure of space flight can also be stressful, isolating and depressing. So scientists are working on giving a computer the ability to offer some of the understanding guidance — if not all the warmth — of a human therapist, before psychological problems or interpersonal conflicts compromise a mission.
