Remember going on road trips as a kid – all cooped up in a car for what seemed like forever? Were you like me? Did you have an annoying little brother to deal with? Did you miss your friends from home while you were away?

Well, imagine being cooped up like that for six months. That’s the typical mission duration on the International Space Station. So how do astronauts put up with each other? And how do they make that tin can in the sky a bit more like home?

Phyllis Johnson is a sociologist at the University of British Colombia, and she’s hoping to answer some of those questions. Her study ‘At Home In Space‘ is especially important when you consider a trip to Mars is at least six months…and that’s just one way.