Remote ergonomic research in space: spacelab findings and a proposal.

This paper discusses ergonomics research using remotely situated video cameras in spacecraft. Two prototype studies of crewmembers working in the micro-G environments aboard the first two flights of Spacelab are described. Various aspects of crew restraint, stabilization, manipulation of controls, and mobilization were observed, operationally defined, and quantified by observing videotaped scenes of Spacelab crewmembers. In the first study, four performance behaviors were quantified to provide estimates of their frequency of occurrence and variation over the course of each of the flights. The behaviors and their mean percent of observed times were: Hand-Hold 32.2%, Foot Restraint 35.3%, Translation 9.4%, and Struggle 3.7%. Because we observed that nearly a third of a crewmember's time was spent inefficiently holding on with one hand while trying to work with the other, a second study was conducted exploring the use of foot restraints and hand stabilization. During 18 episodes of single-foot restraint, for example, there were 52 instances of hand stabilization and 135 instances of stabilization attempts with the other foot. The paper concludes with some defining characteristics of adequate foot restraints, and a proposal for extending this research model to future spacecraft studies.