History Main / SpaceMadness

* This trope likely originated in 1950's experiments designed to test the effects of working in a cramped, low-oxygen environment -- which could result in hallucinations and other signs of mental stress. Of course, this had more to do with the isolation and sense of claustrophobia created by such experiments, but as no-one had actually gone up into space at the time the results were not encouraging. Actual astronauts worked in bigger capsules and were either not up long enough to make any difference, or worked as part of a team. The psychological effects of long-range multi-year missions to Mars however have yet to be seen.

Compare OceanMadness, since SpaceIsAnOcean and all that.

->''Our deepest fear is going space crazy through loneliness. The only thing that helps me keep my slender grip on reality is the friendship I have with [[CompanionCube my collection of singing potatoes]].''
->--'''Holly''', ''RedDwarf''

* Very well done in DarkStar, even though it's the source of most of the comedy.

* The fears of the SpaceMadness led to the situation when Gagarin's capsule controls were locked up, with the code to be transmitted to him from the Earth after his mental state was evaluated. Unofficially he had the codes on a slip of paper in his pocket.

* The RobertAHeinlein novel ''Stranger in a Strange Land''. Secretary General Douglas asks if Dr. Mahmoud is "space happy" from his trip back from Mars.
** The main character of the Heinlein story "Ordeal in Space" develops severe acrophobia after an EVA accident sends him adrift in space until rescue arrives, forcing him to give up space flight. [[spoiler:He snaps out of it when he nerves himself up to rescue a kitten stuck on a ledge]].

** Some experiments of this nature have already been made. The results haven't been very encouraging.

** Gravity and acceleration are indistinguishable (Einstein, yo!), so there'll be at least a bit on any mission to Mars.
*** They aren't going to be accelerating the whole trip though. In ridiculously simplified terms they will get out of the Earth's gravity well and accelerate for a while, then coast the rest of the way.
*** Maybe the spacecraft can be designed to rotate, like the habitat section of the ''Discovery'' in ''[[ASpaceOdyssey 2001]]'' or the rotating tether in BenBova's ''Mars''.

->--Holly, ''RedDwarf''

** ''StarTrekVoyager'' has The Void. (confusingly, it's in the episode titled ''Night'', not the episode titled ''The Void'') It's lightyear upon lightyear of nothing. You can't even see the stars; it's so big that hardly any ships cross it, thus nobody from either side knows much about the other. It's so big that the ship has to be on minimum power, and a broom leaning against the Conn panel could fly the ship. Nothing to do, nothing to see, everybody goes stircrazy or suicidally depressed.

*** Maybe the spacecraft can be designed to rotate, like the habitat section of the ''Discovery'' in [[2001ASpaceOdyssey 2001]] or the rotating tether in BenBova's ''Mars''.

* There are plans to lock 6 people in a house/mock-spaceship for over 500 days, as an experiment to see how people would cope with a trip to Mars and back. Naturally, they'll still have gravity, but the communications delays and isolation from 'Earth' will be simulated pretty well.

* This is quite possibly what happens in David Bowie's song ''Space Oddity.'' In the song, an astronaut makes a trip into outer space, and when ground control detects a problem, he makes a last transmission of "Tell my wife I lover her very much" before contact is lost. No explanation for what happened is given, so maybe he went nuts.

* Figures largely into the film ''{{Pandorum}}''.

* Asimoc has also got a story called "I am in Marsport without Hilda" which is based around the fact that most people cannot travel in space without a dose of special medication... and it's very difficult to conceal the fact said medication can be cooked into a super drug in anyone's kitchen.

* ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'' actually had an episode titled "Space Madness". In it, the tedium of space travel starts to get to Commander Hoek (Ren) and he starts to go crazy (or rather, craz''ier''). Cadet Stimpy was forced to restrain him, but Hoek believes that Stimpy is the one who has Space Madness and plots to get rid of him.

* This trope likely originated in 1950's experiments designed to test the effects of working in a cramped, low-oxygen environment -- which could result in hallucinations and other signs of mental stress. Of course, this had more to do with the isolation and sense of claustrophobia created by such experiments, but as no-one had actually gone up into space at the time the results were not encouraging. Actual astronauts worked in bigger capsule and were either not up long enough to make any difference, or worked as part of a team. The psychological effects of long-range multi-year missions to Mars however have yet to be seen.

* ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'' actually had an episode titled "Space Madness". In it, the tedium of space travel starts to get to Commander Hoek (Ren) and he starts to go crazy (or rather, craz''ier''). Cadet Stimpy was forced to restrain him, but Hoek believes that Stimpy is the one who has Space Madness and plots to get rid of him.
----
<<|MadnessTropes|>>
<<|SpeculativeFictionTropes|>>
<<|TropesInSpace|>>

The trope takes its' name from an episode of ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin about, well, Ren's space madness]].

(And ''only'' Ren, his [[TheFool moronic sidekick]] Stimpy seems to be immune from it.)

* An early LegionOfSuperheroes story had Sun Boy snapping from too many consecutive deep space missions, after which the Legion Constitution was amended to require mandatory downtime every so often.

* In the short story ''Scrimshaw'' by Murray Leinster. A group of millionaires on the first tourist trip to the Moon go into catatonia or commit suicide as Earth retreats behind them and they realise their sheer insignificance.

* ''The Nothing Equation'', a short story by Tom Goodwin (of ''{{Cold Equation}}s'' fame). An astronaust is assigned to a one-man astronomy station at the edge of the galaxy. He knows that his replacement went insane, and the one before committed suicide, but is confident ''he'' won't crack up. Slowly though he becomes obsessed with idea of just how vulnerable he is out here, with a hull one sixteenth of an inch thick holding 2 million pounds of pressure. He starts charting every possible vulnerable point and ends up months later cowering under a makeshift tent, convinced the "nothingness" outside is just waiting for a chance to come rushing in. The story ends with a fourth astronaut taking over the post also confident that he won't crack up; after all there's 'nothing' out there to be afraid of...