Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
What can psychologists do the make pilots and astronauts’ decision making better under duress? Can we anticipate the psychological issues of planned long distance space missions to Mars? How can we shift the shame culture for pilots and astronauts around reporting unidientified anomolous phenomena?
In this episode we have the unique field of Space psychology to look into; So we discuss the psychology of military pilots and astronauts working under such extreme conditions; and the intuitive skill sets developed under such high pressure, split second decision situations; we discuss the cognitive engineering required to match the design of instruments to the cognitive needs of the pilots and astronauts; we get into alternatives methods of expertise exchange apart from the usual text book approach which have had extraordinary decision making results for pilot and astronaut performance. We also discuss the issues for pilots around reporting of UFO encounters, and the implications for space psychology of the new bout of main stream interest following the New York Times 2017 expose of military incidents.
So who better to help us understand the minds of pilots and astronauts than space psychologist, cognitive engineer, astronaut instructor and Director of the Centre of Space Medicine at UCL in London, Dr. Iya Whitely. She’s helped design training programs and conducted studies for the European Space Agency, The Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia, and presented he research for the USAirforce and Nasa. Dr. Whitely is also a pilot, rescue scuba diver and competitive sky diver! She’s written 11 scientific papers, and three books, “Toolkit of a Space Psychologist, to support astronauts on exploration missions to the moon and mars”, “Earth Designs” for toddlers, and her new book “Born Knowing”, which we get onto at the end.
What we discuss:
00:00 Intro.
05:30 Iya’s path into Cognitive Engineering.
12:30 Direct pilot experience needed for psychologists to understand pilots.
18:35 Decision making research.
22:20 Australian Firefirter studys.
28:00 Iya’s method led to 200/cent increase in decision making speed.
21:40 Professional intuition.
36:03 Making intuition scientific.
40:15 ‘Swiss Cheese’ model of accident accountability, exonerated pilots from sole resonsibility.
43:00 Surgeon decsion making & expertise transmission study
55:45 Astronaut psychology - Alexei Leonov, first space walk near-disaster, 1965.
01:06:00 ESA human, long-distance space flight study.
01:10:15 Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) - Genrich Altshuller.
01:13:00 Nature solves problems using resources available locally - Biomimetics, Dr Olga Bogatyreva.
01:20:15 Case Study: Handling little irritations in space.
01:27:10 Mars 500: 520 day simulated Mars mission trial.
01:31:30 Space colonisation psychology.
01:40:40 Difficulty reintegrating with terrestrial society after missions to space.
01:43:00 “The Overview Effect” when earth is seen from space.
01:50:30 Taboo around reporting of anomolous phenomena for pilots and astronauts.
01:53:15 Ryan Graves is speaking out in congress about repeated UFO situations and safety concerns.
01:58:30 Graves and Lou Elizondo left the armed forces to speak publicly about this.
02:01:00 Astronauts can’t risk to speak about this as it will affect their careers.
02:05:50 Campaigning for changes in reporting taboo - UAP Outreach Committe, AIAA.
02:13:00 Navy have implemented a new reporting protocol and office, AARO.
02:21:30 Iya at the Sol Foundation: Garry Nolan & Diana Pasulka.
02:29:30 Pilot Jake Baba - reporting issue with the phenomena.
02:39:10 Telepathic autistic children, called ‘spellers’. Diane Hennessy Powell research.
02:47:00 These telepathic kids are also interracting with non-human intelligences.
02:51:15 Non-verbal communication with toddlers.
References:
Iya Whiteley, “Born Knowing”.
https://share.google/ZLCTHxTAYVhzrB1ck
Iya Whiteley, “Toolkit for a space psycholgist”.
https://share.google/9Lpn1fr81Q2wuX6Yy
Iya Whiteley, “Earth designs” toddlers book.
“https://share.google/hi6YN53hXEBEvlsFH
Gary A. Klein - professional intuition book “The Power of Intuition
https://share.google/ACtVXiVLNatDuZZZg
Dr Olga Bogatyreva - ‘Biomimetics - its practice and theory’.
researchgate.net/publication/6937083_Biomimetics_Its_Practice_and_Theory
Frank White, “The Overview Effect”
https://share.google/CkGOOECyxR5ujUOd1
Whitley Strieber, “Communion”
https://share.google/lPrcC9HSjH26dA4Vj
Rick Srassman, “DMT The Spirit Molecule”
https://share.google/1r5LGvdHZLUYDRmN6
All domain anomoloy resoltions office, AARO.
https://www.aaro.mil/
2024 Paper on the UAP reporting system
Occupational Safety and Reporting Guidance: Reviewing UAP ...
Sol foundation
thesolfoundation.org
Ky Dickens, Telepathy Tapes podcast and documentary film.
youtube.com/@TheTelepathyTapes
What can psychologists do the make pilots and astronauts’ decision making better under duress? Can we anticipate the psychological issues of planned long distance space missions to Mars? How can we shift the shame culture for pilots and astronauts around reporting unidientified anomolous phenomena?
In this episode we have the unique field of Space psychology to look into; So we discuss the psychology of military pilots and astronauts working under such extreme conditions; and the intuitive skill sets developed under such high pressure, split second decision situations; we discuss the cognitive engineering required to match the design of instruments to the cognitive needs of the pilots and astronauts; we get into alternatives methods of expertise exchange apart from the usual text book approach which have had extraordinary decision making results for pilot and astronaut performance. We also discuss the issues for pilots around reporting of UFO encounters, and the implications for space psychology of the new bout of main stream interest following the New York Times 2017 expose of military incidents.
So who better to help us understand the minds of pilots and astronauts than space psychologist, cognitive engineer, astronaut instructor and Director of the Centre of Space Medicine at UCL in London, Dr. Iya Whitely. She’s helped design training programs and conducted studies for the European Space Agency, The Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia, and presented he research for the USAirforce and Nasa. Dr. Whitely is also a pilot, rescue scuba diver and competitive sky diver! She’s written 11 scientific papers, and three books, “Toolkit of a Space Psychologist, to support astronauts on exploration missions to the moon and mars”, “Earth Designs” for toddlers, and her new book “Born Knowing”, which we get onto at the end.
What we discuss:
00:00 Intro.
05:30 Iya’s path into Cognitive Engineering.
12:30 Direct pilot experience needed for psychologists to understand pilots.
18:35 Decision making research.
22:20 Australian Firefirter studys.
28:00 Iya’s method led to 200/cent increase in decision making speed.
21:40 Professional intuition.
36:03 Making intuition scientific.
40:15 ‘Swiss Cheese’ model of accident accountability, exonerated pilots from sole resonsibility.
43:00 Surgeon decsion making & expertise transmission study
55:45 Astronaut psychology - Alexei Leonov, first space walk near-disaster, 1965.
01:06:00 ESA human, long-distance space flight study.
01:10:15 Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) - Genrich Altshuller.
01:13:00 Nature solves problems using resources available locally - Biomimetics, Dr Olga Bogatyreva.
01:20:15 Case Study: Handling little irritations in space.
01:27:10 Mars 500: 520 day simulated Mars mission trial.
01:31:30 Space colonisation psychology.
01:40:40 Difficulty reintegrating with terrestrial society after missions to space.
01:43:00 “The Overview Effect” when earth is seen from space.
01:50:30 Taboo around reporting of anomolous phenomena for pilots and astronauts.
01:53:15 Ryan Graves is speaking out in congress about repeated UFO situations and safety concerns.
01:58:30 Graves and Lou Elizondo left the armed forces to speak publicly about this.
02:01:00 Astronauts can’t risk to speak about this as it will affect their careers.
02:05:50 Campaigning for changes in reporting taboo - UAP Outreach Committe, AIAA.
02:13:00 Navy have implemented a new reporting protocol and office, AARO.
02:21:30 Iya at the Sol Foundation: Garry Nolan & Diana Pasulka.
02:29:30 Pilot Jake Baba - reporting issue with the phenomena.
02:39:10 Telepathic autistic children, called ‘spellers’. Diane Hennessy Powell research.
02:47:00 These telepathic kids are also interracting with non-human intelligences.
02:51:15 Non-verbal communication with toddlers.
References:
Iya Whiteley, “Born Knowing”.
https://share.google/ZLCTHxTAYVhzrB1ck
Iya Whiteley, “Toolkit for a space psycholgist”.
https://share.google/9Lpn1fr81Q2wuX6Yy
Iya Whiteley, “Earth designs” toddlers book.
“https://share.google/hi6YN53hXEBEvlsFH
Gary A. Klein - professional intuition book “The Power of Intuition
https://share.google/ACtVXiVLNatDuZZZg
Dr Olga Bogatyreva - ‘Biomimetics - its practice and theory’.
researchgate.net/publication/6937083_Biomimetics_Its_Practice_and_Theory
Frank White, “The Overview Effect”
https://share.google/CkGOOECyxR5ujUOd1
Whitley Strieber, “Communion”
https://share.google/lPrcC9HSjH26dA4Vj
Rick Srassman, “DMT The Spirit Molecule”
https://share.google/1r5LGvdHZLUYDRmN6
All domain anomoloy resoltions office, AARO.
https://www.aaro.mil/
2024 Paper on the UAP reporting system
Occupational Safety and Reporting Guidance: Reviewing UAP ...
Sol foundation
thesolfoundation.org
Ky Dickens, Telepathy Tapes podcast and documentary film.
youtube.com/@TheTelepathyTapes
