The Role of Human Engineering in the Design of the Orion Spacecraft

Abstract

The panel will discuss NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle, Orion, which is being designed to take four humans back to the moon, and lay the groundwork for future manned missions to Mars. Given that the last design work for such a vehicle was performed over 30 years ago, a lot has changed. Since the contract was only recently awarded (2007), there is much work to be done: finalize requirements, mature the technology, design the systems and modules, produce the hardware and software, test the systems, and prepare for first flight operations planned for 2014. The panel, consisting of customer and contractor human engineering professionals, as well as an astronaut who is actively participating in the design process, will discuss current design issues, human factors approaches that are being applied, and current technical and cultural challenges. Audience insights and recommendations for addressing these challenges will form the interactive portion of the panel session.