New Mars Forums

I totally agree...

A long-term mission needs artists and writers, for instance.  People who can communicate their product back to earth easily, are content being alone, and can actually best achieve their professional goals in solitude.  If the bulk of your life is spent on a ship just making a journey, I'd think the artist/writer type is least likely to feel their life was wasted at the end of that journey.

Along those lines, I'd suggest that the crew should be filtered to include, perhaps, only introverts.  If you're in a confined space for a long time with few people, you'll survive a lot better if you actually like it that way to begin with.  Someone who loves crowds and goes out dancing every night would go insane very quickly I'd think. 

I'd happily hop on a ship for a few(or many) years.  A complete and constantly updated library of e-books to read, the time and solitude to write, all my mundane needs provided for by the ship, few people to bother me... sounds like a pretty good life.

Mark