Caroline Gueye

The recruitment procedure for astronaut training has changed a lot since the advent of the first space missions in the 1960s. In the early days, aspiring space travelers had to start out as pilots. Next, skills in science were added to the profile. Finally, they decided to bring women on board. And nowadays, a great deal of attention is given to astronauts’ psychosocial abilities, particularly when it comes to functioning as a group. They are no longer required to excel in one specific domain, but instead must be versatile, possessing decent skills in all domains. Yet, from my own experience with it at the ESA (European Space Agency) in 2021, at no point was any form of creativity mentioned in the hiring process.  

Astronauts are known, however, to have demonstrated creativity during the Apollo 13 mission controlled by NASA in Houston, as well as in a number of other missions. Furthermore, many astronauts allegedly become completely engrossed in art and creation upon retirement. The study of creativity among astronauts is as yet largely unexplored, but a scientific journal article by Henderika de Vries of Yale University has suggested that this field may grow in the future. Bearing in mind the space community’s current focus on sending a manned mission to Mars, she explains how deep-space exploration will bring with it additional psychological challenges. Essentially, the farther humans travel through space, the more they will need creativity-related skills to survive and prosper. De Vries also draws attention to the fact that a number of scientific studies are now considering creativity to be a learnable, evaluable and measurable skill. Is it therefore possible that creative potential will soon be listed among the selection and training criteria for astronauts? Could science-art creativity be a proven trait among astronauts? Does it develop during their training? These are the types of questions that will inform my research at the JSC, relying on both an artistic point of view and an on-site field investigative approach, in order to discover the creative process practiced by astronauts.  

Houston city brings together space research, neuroscience and art, the three fields that fuel both my artistic practice and my PhD research. I believe that the following sites in Houston will be vital to the development of my project.  

The first is the NASA Johnson Space Center, a world leader in human space exploration. Its team members are described on the NASA website as “creative and talented problem solvers [who] push the boundaries of exploration”. 

In terms of science-art creativity research, Houston is of significant interest both for its laboratories and for its academic institutions. For example, the University of Houston houses two neuroscience laboratories currently working on science-art creativity: the BRAIN Center and the Your Brain on Art Laboratory. 

Lastly, Houston has become a hotbed for contemporary art. The city boasts one of the largest museum districts in North America that is home to the renowned Menil Collection, among others. Tours of Houston’s contemporary art collections and interactions with curators will further strengthen my research into polymath artists and their creative processes.  

My research fuses the three areas of science, neuroscience and art. More specifically for my project in Houston, I will be looking at astronauts, science-art neuro-creativity, and the artistic process. Given that Houston offers the JSC, several neuroscience laboratories specializing in science-art creativity, and a veritable artistic hub, I am convinced that it is the ideal location for my project’s success.