Scientist says astronauts should take psychedelic mushrooms in space

In the future, when space agencies start sending human crews into deep space to explore or change the environment of faraway planets, we may need to send them extra goodies to keep their spirits up.

Mycologist Paul Stamets told Scientific American that psychedelic mushrooms could help astronauts feel better when they are lonely, sad, traumatised, or just in a bad mood in general. It's a strange idea, but as more and more research shows that psilocybin, the active ingredient in mushrooms, may help with many mental health problems, it may be a strange idea worth thinking about.

Stamets told the magazine, "Under carefully controlled conditions, our astronauts [being] able to take psilocybin in space and look at the universe and not feel distant and alone but feel like they're part of this giant consciousness will give them a better frame of mind — psychologically, emotionally — to work with other astronauts and stay on mission," "I feel that isolation, loneliness, and depression are going to be major issues that astronauts face."

To be clear, Stamets didn't schedule an interview with SciAm just to say that astronauts should get high on mushrooms while they travel the stars. He is also getting money from NASA to find out how else mushrooms could make life easier in space.

These range from making buildings and shelters out of fungus to terraforming whole new worlds with the help of mushrooms' ability to break down regolith into farmable soil.

"It's much easier to take one seed and grow your food than it is to take a ton of food to space, right?" SciAm: Stamets told us. "Nature is very good at getting the most out of what it has. It's much better for nature to make food than for your rocket to carry food."

For now, the idea of putting a little psilocybin snack on an astronaut's utility belt is just a thought, but Stamets is sure that it would be a good idea.

"I say this with great sincerity: NASA and anyone else working and looking at the settlement of space, you should consider that psilocybin mushrooms should be an essential part of your psychological tool kit for astronauts to be able to endure the solitude and the challenges of space and isolation," he told SciAm.