A major factor that affects astronauts mental well being is time to date astronauts have only spent a few months in space at a time but longer expeditions would require astronauts to spend significantly more time inside a spaceship for example a round trip expedition to mars could take about three years being confined in small space for such a long period of time is not healthy research has shown that travelers on such long journeys such as sailors or explorers in the arctc have an above average chance of suffering from depression