Operator's Reliability During Spacecraft Docking Training on Board Mir and ISS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The experimental research PILOT on board the space stations aimed to assess cosmonauts expectable reliability in a mission relevant operation, the manual docking of Soyuz or Progress spacecrafts on the space stations Mir and International Space Station (ISS), respectively. METHOD: Therefore, a simulation of the docking of two space apparatuses was used for training and research. The methodological approach is described, taking into consideration the level of performance and the individual effort spent, the psychophysiological costs. In three decades altogether 32 cosmonauts took part. RESULTS: A significant increase of reliability was found from Mir (0.45 scores) to ISS missions (0.51). On ISS the reliability remained stable (0.50 0.1). DISCUSSION: Salnitskis model for the evaluation of operators reliability was further developed and tested, which turned out to be sensitive as well as robust enough for a practical application in this critical operational task