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'I'm coming back in, and it's the saddest moment of my life,' said astronaut Ed White during the Gemini 4 mission on 3 June 1965 as he performed the first American spacewalk.

What he was experiencing was a profound sensation shared by all later astronauts of seeing Earth from space - a sense of wonder.

But research suggests it might also elicit something known as 'the break-off phenomenon' - a feeling of separation from Earth - and it could be a problem for future astronauts going to Mars.

Washington-based Nasa and other agencies will have to cope with mental health issues on missions to Mars. Previously high-altitude pilots have reported a sense of isolation from Earth (stock image shown). This same feeling was once thought to be a problem for Martian explorers

The break-off phenomenon is a sensation commonly associated with pilots flying at extremely high altitude.

Here, far above the surface of our planet, pilots have reported feeling a sense of detachment from Earth.

While for most they say this was a feeling of euphoria or peacefulness, according to the Fast Company more than a third of pilots who reported the break-off phenomenon 'freaked out'.

This feeling of isolation and detachment is apparently something that can cause not only a sense of wonder, but also more frightening thoughts.

And it is these stresses that future astronauts will have to deal with. It is why Nasa has placed such huge importance on keeping the ISS manned since 2000 to test the psychological aspects of space travel.

'There had been a lot of concern early in the manned space program about the break-off phenomenon, the notion that you would feel disconnected from the Earth when you were above it, particularly when you were in orbit,' Dr. Larry Young, Apollo program professor of astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told FastCoExist.

In the modern era astronauts spend six months on the station, although they will soon begin year-long missions, and their work loads are carefully managed to stop them getting over-stressed.

But this feeling of detachment can be dangerous, and it has let to problems in the past.

Nasa had learned the necessity to keep astronauts appeased the hard way during the Skylab 4 mission in late 1973.

After feeling overworked and stressed from constant requests by Nasa, the three astronauts on board the Skylab space station reached breaking point and, for a day, turned off all communication with Earth.

Instead they spent a relaxing day just watching Earth from orbit.

The mutiny was a lesson, and forced space agencies around the world to begin studies into the effects of prolonged isolation.

To cope with the problem many psychological experiments have been carried out over the last few decades. These include placing people in isolation to cope with being in isolation for so long during a long mission to Mars (stock image shown)

One famous experiment to see how astronauts would cope with a potential 520-day round trip to Mars was conducted by the Mars 500 experiment.

This saw six people spend 520 days enclosed in a mock-up spacecraft on Earth, with their conditions and communications simulating what real astronauts might experience on the way to Mars.

The experiment was a complete success; few conflicts, if any, were reported by the astronauts, proving that a life in isolation need not be so troublesome.

The solution was to provide astronauts with plenty of entertainment, free time and a manageable work load.

And one solution for future missions to Mars may be to use a virtual reality.

Researchers in the US are hoping to bring Star Trek-style technology to future long-duration space missions in an effort help astronaut's keep their sanity.

The 'Virtual Space Station' will act as a source of refuge for astronauts, as well as a computerised therapist that will check on their mental health through a series of programs.

Dartmouth College's Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation lab, or Dali, is currently creating the technology for the system with funding from Nasa.

The system will use Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset that Oculus VR is developing, with the addition of sounds and smells that could help change an astronaut's mood.

It will 'trick the brain and make people feel as if they are in a variety of beautiful and calm settings, such as with their family at home or strolling on the beach,' Darmouth Professor Lorie Loeb said.

This might be imperative for keeping astronauts mentally fit and healthy on a mission to Mars.

The ISS has been continuously occupied since 2000 (first crew shown) and since then many of the psychological problems of prolonged space travel have been ironed out

Private company Mars One, who ambitiously plan to land people on Mars next decade, have also noted the need for psychological issues to be addresses in selecting a crew to go to Mars.

'They will be people who have dreamt their whole life of going to Mars, and in many case will have pursued careers that increase the odds of being selected for this kind of mission,' they write on their website.

'The selected team will be very smart, skilled, mentally stable and very healthy. They will go to Mars to live their dream.'

Ultimately, further research and experiments will be needed to ensure that the first Martian explorers to not succumb to some of the problems that have plagued earlier pioneers.