History Main / SpaceMadness

* Creator/MackReynolds wrote a ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' book, ''Mission to Horatius'', in which the possibility of "space cafard" became a concern. Spock described it as:

* It is often said that the intellectual/academic specialty most likely to kill themselves is that of the astronomer and cosmologist. Perhaps this is what gave Douglas Adams the idea of the Total Perspective Vortex: astronomers are contractually bound to stare into it night after night and contemplate infinity in a direct and un-theoretical way. Thus getting a very clear picture of how small and insignificant the human race is, in the grand scheme of things.

* In ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', space madness is just a catchall phrase for any number of psychological conditions. In Captain Janeway's BackStory, she and several other female crewmembers mutinied against their officers who wanted to use them for a BabyFactory. To avoid a politically-embarrassing court-martial, the women are described as having merely 'detained' their officers for their own safety after they went space-mad. It helps that the captain has GoneMadFromTheIsolation after being sealed up in an airlock by the mutineers. Exposure to the infinity of space can also lead to insanity. {{Fishbowl helmet}}s have focal points painted on them to prevent this, and Captain Janeway has a brief panic attack when she's [[StrappedToARocket sealed up in a cargo rocket]] and shot out of a torpedo tube.

* In ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', space madness is just a catchall phrase for any number of psychological conditions. In Captain Janeway's BackStory, she and several other female crewmembers mutinied against their officers who wanted to use them for a BabyFactory. To avoid a politically-embarrassing court-martial, the women are described as having merely 'detained' their officers for their own safety after they went insane. It helps that the captain has GoneMadFromTheIsolation after being sealed up in an airlock by the mutineers. Exposure to the infinity of space can also lead to insanity. {{Fishbowl helmet}}s have focal points painted on them to prevent this, and Captain Janeway has a brief panic attack when she's [[StrappedToARocket sealed up in a cargo rocket]] and shot out of a torpedo tube.

* The Russians had several psychological issues in their early Salyut and MIR missions,

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' actually had an episode titled [[TropeNamer "Space Madness"]]. In it, the tedium of space travel starts to get to Commander Hoek (Ren) and he starts to lose his mind (however little there is of it to lose in the first place). 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.

* Downplayed in the 1960 Italian sci-fi movie ''Space-Men'' (a.k.a. ''Assignment: Outer Space'').
When the TagalongReporter is placed into a spacesuit and ThrownOutTheAirlock so he can cross to the SpaceStation, he starts to FreakOut over the endless void, but pulls himself together just before reaching the other airlock. No-one bothers easing him through it, and his reaction is regarded as entirely normal, the equivalent of getting your space legs.

* Creator/AndreyLivadny's novel ''Ganymede Rising'' has the crew of the USS ''Harry S. Truman'', an american space cruiser, who are sent on a top-secret mission to the titular moon of Jupiter to retrieve a recently-discovered alien artifact. When someone brings up the fact that the ''Truman'' is not designed for interplanetary travel (it lacks [[HumanPopsicle cryogenic pods]], for one), and there's a strong risk of this trope. The others wave the concern off, claiming that the crewmembers are [[EagleLand American soldiers]] and their resolve and faith in their nation will sustain them. They're wrong, of course. After long months of travel, the crew of the ''Truman'' does indeed start losing their minds. So when strange creatures start coming out of the artifact, TheCaptain orders an attack on it and also sends troops to the Ganymede colony (which is not under American jurisdiction). When the attack fails ([[spoiler:the insane soldiers end up accidentally shooting one another, as the aliens are holograms]]), he gets ready to push the button and NukeEm all.

* The short story ''The Emperor of Mars'' (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/steele_12_14_reprint/) covers going nuts in space in some detail, although usually the causes are being cooped up in a confined space for too long, lack of sunlight, poor diet, stress and getting bad news from home that you can't do anything about rather than space itself.

* ''Film/AdAstra'' (2019). Astronaut Brad Pitt believes his astronaut father Tommy Lee Jones suffers from space madness, and goes out to save/stop him, while fearing that he may succumb to space madness himself.

* ''Ad Astra'' (2019). Astronaut Brad Pitt believes his astronaut father Tommy Lee Jones suffers from space madness, and goes out to save/stop him, while fearing that he may succumb to space madness himself.

* ''Conquest of Space'' (George Pal's 1955 sci-fi flop after his previous blockbusters ''Film/DestinationMoon'' and ''Film/WhenWorldsCollide''). The doctor on [[SpaceStation The Wheel]] describes the trope (in LaymansTerms) as "space fatigue". Apparently everyone working in space suffers from it, but the symptoms are usually minor, and easily cured by returning the patient to Earth. For those selected for the first Mars expedition, already under stress through the competitive selection process, the issue is more serious. The general in charge of the mission begins to crack, and in a religious fervor tries to sabotage the spacecraft [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow in the belief that Man is not meant to leave planet Earth]].

* Asimov has also written 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 is very difficult to conceal the fact said medication can be cooked into a super drug in anyone's kitchen.

-->-— '''Allura''', ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''

* In the film ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'', this is the justification for the loopy [[strike:Mir]] "Russian space station" attendant. He'd been alone up there for quite a while. Rock Hound, on the other hand, suddenly comes down with "Space Dementia" and starts shooting everything with the remote-controlled gatling gun they brought along for some reason. Mind you, those guys weren't all that sane to start with.

* In Creator/StanislawLem's first collection of Ijon Tichy stories, ''Literature/TheStarDiaries'', one of the short stories calls into question whether Tichy's far-fetched adventures really happened (or are [[TheMunchausen tall tales and exaggerations]] related by an UnreliableNarrator), or are actually delusions resulting from isolation-induced SpaceMadness.

* On ''Series/JohnDoe'', a metal dome in the forest turns out to be a simulated space vessel, in which astronauts have been confined for months to test the mechanisms and psychological hazards of a manned trip to Mars. Initial investigation suggests the crew have killed each other due to SpaceMadness from prolonged isolation [[spoiler:but it turns out their air-circulation system was sabotaged, causing a gas imbalance that impaired their reason]].

* The fears of SpaceMadness led to the situation where UsefulNotes/YuriGagarin'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.

** ''Star Trek The Original Series'' episode "The Naked Time". When discussing what happened to six people who died on a station, they suggested "space madness".

* According to one [[WMG/{{Pacman}} interpretation]], ''Videogame/{{Pacman}}'' is really an astronaut [[http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2008/05/pacmanexplained-thumb.jpg searching the ship for anti-anxiety pills while hallucinating his dead crew mates as ghosts]].

* AlfredBester's classic novel ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'' features the character of Gully Foyle, who becomes stranded in space after his ship is attacked, and starts to go mad slowly. It doesn't really kick in, however, until a ship capable of rescuing him casually flies past, which leaves Foyle with a hateful vengeance that drives him for the rest of the novel.

* The first ''Series/TwilightZone'' episode "Where Is Everybody?" is about a man who finds himself in an empty town. He's revealed to have hallucinated the whole thing during an exercise designed to replicate the feeling of isolation in outer space.

* In Creator/StanislawLem's first collection of Ijon Tichy stories, ''Literature/TheStarDiaries'', one of the short stories calls into question whether Tichy's far-fetched adventures really happened or are [[TheMunchausen tall tales and exaggerations]] told by an UnreliableNarrator, or are actually delusions resulting from isolation-induced SpaceMadness.

* "Marbles", a story in ''[[ECComics Incredible Science Fiction #30]]'', involves the first crewed mission into space on board the X-17, a spaceship designed with every comfort and precaution in mind. After three weeks everyone on board's claiming that the universe is actually incredibly tiny and that they're playing with the planets like rubber balls, ring-tossing with Saturn, etc. As the ship plummets to Earth, the mission commander notes solemnly that the sheer vastness of space has driven them completely monkeydoodles.