show that aquanauts would have liked to have more selection and variety in 

 leisure provisions, more room for exercise and active recreation, and a quieter 

 environment for off-duty activity. 



In general the comments of aquanauts during debriefings very much agreed with 

 the HARS and TEA. Aquanauts would have particularly liked more variety in TV, 

 tape, and both selections, and would have liked better provision for active 

 exercise. The interview and the TEA also showed that motor noise, pump noise, 

 and topside interruptions constitute an arbitrary distraction from leisure as 

 well as all other in-habitat activities. Finally, all aquanauts were asked what 

 leisure time facilities/activities they most enjoyed and what they missed the 

 most. Results of these questions are shown in Table III. 



The responses to the question on favorite leisure activity are corroborated 

 generally by real-time crew observations. However, although crewmen reported 

 books as their favorite pastime, they did not spend much of their time reading 

 them. Those that were used were mostly light reading (james Bond-type adventures). 

 The high ranking of the two-way videophone as a leisure time activity was sur- 

 prising. This expressed enjoyment of the device compares to observed high usage. 

 It was not unusual for crewmen to gravitate toward the video screen and simply 

 watch the topside crew, who were in turn watching them. This channel, their 

 primary link with the outside world, has been credited on Tektite with minimiz- 

 ing friction that frequently develops between operating and support crews. 



When the answers were looked at by mission total, it was apparent that some 

 missions particularly enjoyed certain activities; for example, one mission 

 especially enjoyed bull sessions; but the two activities most consistently 

 chosen as highly enjoyable were reading leisure books and listening to music 

 on the audio cassettes. At least one aquanaut on every mission mentioned one 

 of these two activities as most enjoyable to him. 



The first two responses to the question about what was missed most--wife and 

 family, and women and sex--are obviously from married and single aquanauts, 

 respectively. With the possible exception of these items and a few others, it 

 should be possible to satisfy most of the expressed desires. Note, however, 

 that just under the biological urgings, the crew missed creative activities. 

 Consider this in light of the research nature of their work, their unique 

 marine environment, and the recreation package described previously. 



It was interesting that although magazine reading ranked so low, in a post- 

 mission inspection of the habitat the magazines (particularly four copies of 

 Playboy) were found to be thoroughly worn. The centerfolds of all four Playboy 

 magazines were missing and posted around the habitat. Games rated very low. 

 Perhaps if the missions had been more rigidly structured such that there was 

 a regular time when all crewmen were off duty, this would have been higher. 

 This rating, however, agrees with other findings (notably Russian) that amuse- 

 ments involving intellectual competition are generally unpopular among confined 

 crews . 



On one mission very detailed observations were made from topside on the leisure 

 time pursuits of the aquanauts. The mission is one in which, according to 



VIII-79 



