AUTHOR=Thompson Jeff 

TITLE=NASA leadership: utilizing awe-narratives to enhance wellbeing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Space Technologies

VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/space-technologies/articles/10.3389/frspt.2025.1652557

DOI=10.3389/frspt.2025.1652557

ISSN=2673-5075

ABSTRACT=The wellbeing of astronauts on long-duration space missions is critical to current and future mission success. It is equally important that those who support astronauts, pre-mission, during the mission, and post-mission, are thriving as well. Therefore, this interpretative phenomenological analysis study examines how a selection of NASA leaders perceive a phenomenon, awe, along with related resilience practices, as supporting their wellbeing in both their professional work and personal lives. The results reveal that awe-narrative interviews can support them professionally while also enhancing their overall wellbeing. Awe narratives have the ability to serve as a gateway to other resilience practices, including cognitive reappraisal, finding meaning and purpose in life, gratitude, hope and optimism, and social connectedness. These results suggest the awe narrative-based interventions can offer both an evidence-based and practical way to benefit NASA personnel, as well as other professionals working in high-pressure and stressful environments.