Houston, we have a podcast.

Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center,

episode 175, The Science of Teams.

I'm Gary Jordan and I'll be your host today.

On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, astronauts

all to let you know what's going on in the world of human spaceflight. It takes a

broad range of skills to become an astronaut. Many of us think of astronauts as super smart,

steely-eyed, super-fit individuals that can solve complex problems and handle the

stresses of launching on rockets, conducting spacewalks, and being alone separated

from society.

But we know that astronauts today don't really fly alone, do they?

They're with a small team for months at a time and astronauts today are selected in

part due to their ability to work well with others. A few times on this

podcast we've brought up the idea of expeditionary skills or the skills required to be a team player when you're stuck on a space station with the same people for months and sometimes years.

On today's podcast, we're going to explore the traits of a successful high-performing team

and the skills that astronauts need to be successful in those teams.

Our guest today are astoundingly accomplished in the area of team science and have worked together conducting

NASA sponsored team composition research.

First is Dr. Nocio Contractor, Professor of Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University,

where he directs the Sonic Research Group.

Sonic standing for the science of networks in communities.

Noshir is investigating how social and knowledge networks form and perform in

...