Human Factors Analysis of Crew Height and Weight Limitations in Space Vehicle Design

Abstract

A primary question for human factors practitioners is to determine if the user population can be accommodated within a design. Given the wide range of variables feeding into a design, just one of which is human factors, designers will often have restrictions that may potentially impact the level of accommodation. This paper focuses on two case studies in which human factors requirements had impacts at the design level that may be detrimental to the ability of the design to meet other design criteria. The implementation of a Monte Carlo analysis provided insight into the ability of the vehicle to accommodate the mass of different crewmember configurations. In a separate case study, a population analysis was used to determine the impact of clothing effects of a suited crewmember in various suit configurations along with the effects of spinal elongation due to microgravity. These studies use novel approaches to determine what, if any, changes in population accommodation levels have occurred and what factors are important when manipulating the design in the future. The results of these studies provide a backbone for future analyses when working with design considerations.