Previous Experience in Manned Space Flight: A Survey of Human Factors Lessons Learned

Abstract

Three major manned-space programs have been conducted since the mid-1960's: the Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle programs. Each program has contributed significant new data to the field of human factors and to gaining a greater understanding of how humans operate, function, behave, and adapt to the environment encountered in space. This study summarizes relevant human factors data bearing on the lessons learned from previous manned space flights. Our objective is to gather information available from relevant sources, to develop a taxonomy of human factors data, and to provide a centralized source of data that can be used in the future for those individuals involved in the design of manned-spacecraft operations.

Our results have significance for the establishment and design of manned space vehicles. Methods developed in the collection and archival of human factors data during the course of this study also bear directly on questions of ways in which to systematically compile and characterize human factors data in other areas of research.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Chambers

A.N.

(1969). Development of a taxonomy of human performance: A heuristic model for the development of classification systems. Report 4A, American Institutes for Research. October, 1969. Silver Spring, Md.

Chiles

W.D.

(1967). Methodology in the assessment of complex performance - Discussion and conclusions. Human Factors, 9, 385–392.

Christensen

J.M.

Mills

R.G.

(1967). What does the operator do in complex systems? Human Factors, 9, 329–340.

Conklin

(1987). A survey of Hypertext. MCC Technical Report. Number STP-356-86, Rev. 2. 70 p.

Fleishman

E.A.

Kinkade

R.G.

Chambers

A.N.

(1968). Development of a taxonomy of human performance: A review of the first year's progress. Technical Progress Report 1, American Institutes for Research, 59 p.

Huchingson

R. D.

(1981). New horizons for human factors in design. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Lancaster

F. W.

(1968). Information retrieval systems. New York: Wiley.

Meister

Mills

R. G.

(1971). Development of a human performance reliability data system. In Annals of Reliability and Maintainability, 1971. Tenth Reliability and Maintainability Conference. Anaheim, Cal. June 27–30, 1971, 425–439.

Melton

A.W.

Briggs

G. E.

(1960). Engineering psychology. In Annual Review of Psychology, 11, 71–78.

10.

Woodson

W. E.

(1981). Human factors design handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.