Evaluation of Neutral Body Posture on Shuttle Mission STS-57 (SPACEHAB-1)
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NASA TM−2003-104805 Evaluation of Neutral Body Posture on Shuttle Mission STS-57 (SPACEHAB-1) Frances E. Mount NSBRI Houston, Texas Mihriban Whitmore Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas Sheryl L. Stealey Johnson Engineering Houston, Texas February 2003 THE NASA STI PROGRAM OFFICE . IN PROFILE Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to • CONFERENCE PUBLICATION. Collected the advancement of aeronautics and space papers from scientific and technical science. The NASA Scientific and Technical conferences, symposia, seminars, or other Information (STI) Program Office plays a key meetings sponsored or cosponsored by part in helping NASA maintain this important NASA. role. • SPECIAL PUBLICATION. 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Stealey Johnson Engineering Houston, Texas National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas February 2003 Available from: NASA Center for AeroSpace Information National Technical Information Service 7121 Standard 5285 Port Royal Road Hanover, MD 21076-1320 Springfield, VA 22161 This report is also available in electronic form at http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/NTR ii Contents Page Introduction............................................................................................................................. 1 Method .................................................................................................................................... 2 Subjects....................................................................................................................... 2 Apparatus and Materials ............................................................................................. 3 Experiment Data......................................................................................................... 4 Procedure .................................................................................................................... 4 Results And Discussion .......................................................................................................... 5 Conclusions/Recommendations.............................................................................................. 7 References............................................................................................................................... 8 Appendix 1: Crew Anthropometric Measurements ............................................................... 9 Appendix 2: Selected Mission Photographs .......................................................................... 10 Tables 1 Crew NBP Measurements ............................................................................................... 7 Figures 1 MSIS neutral body posture.............................................................................................. 1 2 Experiment set up at the middeck ................................................................................... 3 3 NBP of the STS-57 crew members ................................................................................. 5 iii Acronyms and Abbreviations ESA European Space Agency JSC Johnson Space Center mm millimeter MSIS Man-Systems Integration Standards NBP neutral body posture STS Space Transportation System iv Introduction Past research from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab Programs (and, more recently, from the Shuttle missions) has shown that the space environment induces physiological changes in the human body. Among these changes are fluid shifts in the upper body and chest cavity, spinal lengthening, and muscular atrophy. Additional changes include space motion sickness, cardiopulmonary deconditioning, and bone mass loss, as well as some changes in visual perception. These require a period of adaptation and can substantially affect both crew member performance and posture throughout a mission. These physiological effects have been of particular interest for posture studies and, when work activities are conducted, have been known to impact the body’s center of gravity, reach, flexibility, and dexterity. Additional posture considerations include attention to the range of crew member body size and the possibility that a crew member’s posture may change over mission duration. All these aspects of posture must be considered to safely and efficiently design space systems and hardware. In an effort to develop an overall posture on the subject of space-induced physiological changes in the human body, NASA has documented its microgravity body posture in the Man-Systems Integration Standards (MSIS) (Fig. 1). The MSIS posture is generally used by the space community in the design of workstations and tools for space application. However, European Space Agency (ESA) personnel have suggested that NASA’s microgravity body posture be further investigated for a number of reasons. These are: • Small sample size: NASA’s original determination was based on a small sample of Skylab crew members and in-flight photographs. • Possible imprecision: The reference points used to measure the joint angles were not very precise because they were obscured by clothing. • Lack of detail: Limited literature from the Skylab missions only superficially described experiments conducted on Skylab. After investigating photographs and video taken during the Skylab mission, ESA personnel reported that only 36% of the data reviewed matched the NASA microgravity body posture that is graphically portrayed in the MSIS. Because of the questions raised, further investigation was deemed necessary. 1 Note: The segment angles shown are means. Values in parentheses are standard deviations about the mean. The data was developed in Skylab studies and is based on the measurement of 12 subjects. Figure 1. MSIS neutral body posture This study was undertaken by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to investigate human body posture exhibited under microgravity conditions. STS-57 crew members were instructed to assume a relaxed posture that was not oriented to any work area or task. Crew members also were asked to 2 don shorts and tank tops and to be blindfolded while data were recorded. This was done to facilitate the acquisition of non-orientation posture as well as to ease the visibility of body segments and limb angles. This effort from the STS-57 (SPACEHAB-1) mission was a means of acquiring video data with minimal hardware requirements and as nonintrusively as possible. Due to mission constraints, video data were only acquired once during the mission from each of the six crew members. This study was a first attempt at gathering specifically selected video data and working out methods and procedures for acquiring more quantitative data from future missions. For the STS-57 mission, several crew familiarization briefings, as well as training sessions in the full fuselage trainer, were conducted at JSC. Data were acquired from several crew mission debriefings. A detailed discussion of these data and findings are reported below. Method Video and still photography were the primary means of acquiring data on microgravity