Although the video phone was not used nearly as much for social purposes 

 as operational (289 minutes versus 1,085), nevertheless, its use may have 

 some highly significant, if not even more significant implications than 

 the operational ones for future missions which may last as long as a year 

 or more. This may particularly be the case when the distinction of being 

 an aquanaut or astronaut is not so highly regarded as at the present time. 

 In fact, there may soon come a time when such missions are so common that 

 they will have lost their glamour, while retaining the high element of risk. 

 When that happens, the costs will outweigh the personal rewards, and the 

 sociological considerations may become even more significant. The reduc- 

 tion of situational stresses will permit future programs to obtain the 

 most scientifically qualified people rather than relying too heavily on 

 rigid crew selection criteria. The data show that the video phone may be 

 a system which would make more people eligible for such missions. If one 

 thing was clear in reviewing the video tapes, it was that the aquanauts 

 often went out of their way to use the video phone for social purposes. 

 They often spent ten, twenty, even thirty minutes or more at a time just 

 watching the people on the surface. When visitors came into the command 

 van, particularly women in the case of the male aquanauts, usually all the 

 aquanauts in the habitat would congregate around the video phone to view 

 the visitor, sometimes coming from three compartments away just to do so. 

 When visitors came to the command van, the aquanauts would invariably use 

 the video phone first, before speaking in private with their visitors on 

 the private phone. The questionnaires showed significant trends in 

 attitude change regarding the social value of the video phone and the open- 

 ended questions also displayed strong feelings for its value as a social 

 instriiment. Such feelings as reduced isolation, increased confidence, and 

 minimized hostility between top and bottom personnel have an intangible 

 quality which is almost impossible to measure but could possibly spell the 

 difference between success or failure of future missions. Additionally, 

 the fact that the recorded usage shows a greater initiation of the video 

 phone for social reasons from the surface than from the habitat (I7U 

 versus 115) probably indicates that the wives, lovers, and off- spring 

 have a need to see "their" aquanauts as well as the aquanauts have a need 

 to see them. The gratification of this need could serve to reinforce the 

 aquanauts' belief that all is well at home and he/she need not worry about 

 that aspect of his/her life, but instead continue and carry on with the job 

 at hand. Thus, the data supported the hypothesis that the video phone is 

 a valuable social instrument, reducing the feelings of isolation. 



There was support shown for the hsrpothesis that the two-way CCTV will 

 improve the communications flow between the aquanauts and the surface 

 support. Although the original design recommended by the author to intro- 

 duce simulated difficulties was not used, on the grounds there was enough 

 natural stress in the situation, numerous incidents occurred where the 

 system was used to relay video information. Examples, such as transferring 

 map locations and displaying broken pieces of equipment, underlines the 

 fact that without the video phone some other means of exchanging this 

 information would have had to be found. 



VIII-65 



